What's The Fastest Transmission? Don't Hate The CVT!

What’s the best transmission? A dual clutch transmission might come to mind due to their lightning quick shifts, but there's another transmission that can allow you to go even faster. As it turns out, a CVT, or continuously variable transmission, reigns king in terms of efficiency and performance. There's a reason the technology was banned after its use in Formula 1. What makes it so good? Well a CVT can choose any gear ratio within its range at any given time, and it can constantly change that gear ratio. That means it can simply hold the engine at peak power, meaning the quickest acceleration, and change the gear ratio as the vehicle’s speed changes, never taking the engine off peak power.

Why hold at peak power, and not peak torque? Learn more here:

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[jonnenne]

That's why my old 1980s John Deere combine harvester has a CVT

[jack]

I hate it when CVT pretends to be a regular gearbox, just give me the best efficiency when cruising and the most power when flooring it!

[aominnomad]

FIA was probably contacted by Ferrari (knowing how they used to act) to ban the transmission. The CVT powered Williams was reported to be around a second or two faster than the conventional 6 speed ones. Which is sad, because if F1 were to keep developing the cvt, we could've gotten the best transmission ever made.

[Mike]

When done right CVT is awesome. When done wrong you get a under powered rubberbandy mess. I once had the thought of a CVT "manual" where the shifter is you can select if you want to be geared to efficiently or peak power, or in between.

[TimeAttack]

The Nissan Altima racing into the distance while hearing “you cannot get any faster than this” was absolutely perfect!

[adamgtrap]

My subaru does a wonderful job engine breaking when cruise control is on and going downhill. That was honestly the thing that I was most excited about with a cvt.

[istimagyar]

"Too big of an advantage"
He meant by: big companies couldn't bear to lose to smaller companies, soo they just lobbied to ban them.

[Daktyl]

Ruining the CVT to give it fake "gears" to make people more comfortable is the entire reason most people hate them, as it's what causes most of the downfalls people attribute to them. Maybe with the rise of gearless electric cars, people will start to see the light in regards to real CVT transmissions.

[AWesome]

For strength I’d never use a CVT, I’ve been around drag cars my whole life, prostock, and promod, with the occasional funny car thrown in. I think the Lenco is about as strong as they get. Based on what I’ve seen. But anything thats gear to gear will hold up really well

[Dankboi]

The ECVT in Toyota hybrids solved the rubberband feel. No belt, no shifts, maximum efficiency and smooth power delivery

[texasjapan]

It was so much fun driving my 2015 Lancer since it was one of those cars that didn’t have the “fake gears”. You can even shift it in low gear to rev and accelerate at the highest possible RPM (without needing to slam the gas pedal once you got it up to speed). Amazing thing. Sad it got totaled but was a fun car.

[robster]

As an automotive mechanical engineer, my immediate thought also went to CVT.

I’ve never owned one my entire life, but I used one as a work car for about a decade (2014 Corolla). Toyota has been using it since the 90s-2000s on their early gen Prius.

[darnellhines]

It's not only about efficiency it's also about reliability and because cvt are belt driven, chain driven, and roller driven they tend to have more issues the conventional automatic and manual transmissions.

[louisbarningham]

6 speed manual, reliable, fun and engaging

[PhazerMike]

It was banned in f1 because at the time the FIA saw it as a money pit in which Williams, Benetton, Ferrari and McLaren could easily develop to run away from the midfield

[Onewheelordeal]

Just need to ride a moped/scooter with and without a variator to get a full appreciation for the CVT

[quandaleman]

my 2015 honda civic has a cvt, it works fantastically. Revs from 0 to 6500 in a few seconds, plus in sport mode it has increased power delivery and low mode for maximum engine braking. all super useful and extremely efficient! (28 mpg while driving like a psycho)

[redcrafterlppa]

The problem is durability and reliability. They wear faster and can't handle to much power without slipping.

[EdwinKingPin]

Invented by a Dutch man and developed in the fifties and sixties, released in 1958 for DAF vehicles. Called variomatic back then.

[JanMichaelSullano]

I used to drive manual and been building my Civic SI and just recently going for sequential gearbox on my K20 until I met CVT on a Hyundai when I decided to get a "real" daily driver and having to play with the car's less powerful engine but fuel efficient, I was blown away when I decided to sort of "study" and practicing which RPM at what speed would be beneficial for speed and acceleration. Now I want to rebuild my CVT and want to make it "sturdier" to take lots of horses. 😂 By the way, Hyundai 1.6 CRDIs are awesome engines to play around with. If done right, you'll get 178hp on stock turbo with only cooler intake and exhaust upgrades. Go for 2.5" and your good to go. 💡