transmissions

[auto trainy]

Can anyone compare a 6 speed normal trans to CVT trans (performance?reliability).

[wiswind]

I cannot speak to reliability, however many don't like the sluggishness of the CVT.
The other thing that I have noticed, much to my annoyance, is the fact that the fuel economy (highway) seems to be lower with the CVT transmission vs the 6 and 8 speed units.
Look at the Toyota website and compare the 2019 Camry and Corolla. The Corolla for 2019 has the CVT on all models (except manual, of course).


The CVT in the Corolla has a direct gear setup that is engaged in 1st when starting our from a complete stop. This feature is new just this year to address the issue of slow starts from stop.

[drizler]

Originally Posted by auto trainy

Can anyone compare a 6 speed normal trans to CVT trans (performance?reliability).

You simply can’t compare the two. CVT is still a quasi unreliable transmission. They just aren’t known for reliability particularly after 100k miles. As stated they are about awful on acceleration . Why would anyone want one is beyond me! I went in a 15 Corolla and timewarped back to the old 1 barrel carbed Subaru’s and corollas of the late 60s . Dangerous if you ever need to pass, particularly in urban traffic. I’ve heard they have gotten better but there’s still a long way to go. Know also how they fail. The chain breaks and instantly trashes the whole case so there no rebuild just a new one for $5,000 😾.
I’ve got an 18 6 spd Auto Camray XSE with 2.5. People rage about it as it sometimes dumps a couple gears downshifting. Yea it does. In 7 k miles it’s done it maybe 5 or 6 times to us. It feels like a foot slipping off the clutch mid shift like a bang shift. It bothers us not one bit. If you accelerate just right it can happen but again for us it’s no big deal. On the other hand my daughter drives it very infrequently and it drives her nuts she says, go figure.
This tranny is adaptive they say. So it learns your habits to some extent. That’s why for me it seemed more prone to act up right when we test drove and bought it. Also possibly why my daughter suddenly has issues and 10 minutes later none for me?? I can’t swear that’s the reason but who knows.
Here’s the secret CURE for the infamous crazy shift 6 speed: LEAVE IT IN SPORT MODE,!!! There you have it as everyone is saying. I can’t swear it’s salvation as it’s so long between occurrences in our case but I do know the gas consumption stays realistically the same at 32. MPG mixed. You can’t expect more from a mid sized sedan really. I’ve heard Toyota created a flash that mitigates the issue sometime late in 2018. Possibly I already had it. The reason being I bought this 18 used in March with 5000 miles on it. So I wonder if the PO hated it that much he ditched it. No way of knowing, maybe it was some old guy who died for all I know as it was in Vero Beach Florida.
I wouldn’t shy away from one of these to be sure and I’d trust it 1000 times further than any CVT.