Nissan was the company behind the modernization and refreshing of the Continuously Variable Transmission (CVT) back in 2002 and later, became the first company that sported CVTs in passenger cars as well. Nissan’s CVT varies from the conventional automatics since it comes without traditional gear ratios.
Current automatics come with 5, 6 or 7 gears and according to the manufacturers, the more gears you have the better the performance of transmission. Nissan’s CVT on the other hand comes with a peculiar pulley and steel belt assembly that moves the gear ratio up and down in a smooth motion, thus eliminating the ‘shifting’ process entirely.
Gear hunting is the term used to describe what a conventional automatic is doing while it is looking for a particular gear that it doesn’t find always. Shift shock is the shock that you get when the gears are switched – power is lost during this process momentarily. With Nissan’s Xtronic CVT however, one gets constant power without any fluctuations and seamless shifting.
The CVT sound is completely different from the conventional systems and creates a distinctive tone. It comes with lesser moving parts and therefore, less friction which reduces the amount of wear and tear taking place. Since it contains fewer parts, it is lighter as compared to traditional systems and imparts better performance and provides economical fuel consumption. Check out the youtube video below for more details:
