Quote:
Originally Posted by engatwork
Curious to find out what other folks experience is with this design. Seems alot of cars are starting to come with them. Saw one the other day in a Nissan Murano that the fluid had never been changed in the transmission and it was worn out at ~210k miles. When I did a little research it seems that they don't get rebuilt but replaced. They are quite pricey too.
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Jim, I'm trying to remember when, but I think it was late '04, my wife ordered a Mini. About the only way you could buy one at that time was to order it. Try as I might, I couldn't talk her into a manual, so the only choice was the CVT.
As another poster mentioned, there is no way to check and change the fluid as we are accustomed to with a typical automatic transmission. I can't remember what it cost, but it was an outrageous charge to flush and change the fluid. Well over $200 as I recall. When I learned that the only alternative if the transmission spit up was a new one at the dealer for $8K, we did not hesitate to spend the outrageous amount of money for the oil change.
She loved the car, but she drives alot and I was getting gun shy when it hit the 200K mile point, so she traded it off.
It never gave a bit of trouble and she was fine with driving it. When she wasn't in the car I used the sport shift and it was no different than manually shifting a typical automatic transmission.
I will say this about the car in general. When she got it I put a heavy rear sway bar on and that thing was every bit as much fun to drive as a go kart. It is decieving to look at. You glance at it and you just think it's another small econobox, but look harder and you will notice that the wheels are at the far corners and the body is wider at the bottom making even a wider track. It's an absolute HOOT to drive one. Sorry to get away from your question with this paragraph.
Hope this is useful.