heard a rumour that ford is dropping CVT's on the new Fiesta in favour of a more traditional mechanical box ?
Is this correct ?
Does this finally prove the stupidity of using bands thats break very often in a gear box ?
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No, its not a reflection on the fragility of the original CVT, the DAF.
Fords current CVT gearbox is licensed jointly with FIAT. But FIAT is now part owned by General Motors. Vauxhall / Opel have already announced that future small automatics will include CVT as well as Easytronic.
Fords dropping CVT is more likely due to licensing difficulties / cost rather than reliability.
The bands in a modern CVT auto gearbox are made of steel like a chain so breakage is not a problem.
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well in the small circle of CVT auto fords i've know theyve all bust
escorts were a disaster
however i thought theyd also had probs with the focus auto box which aint cvt
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also
the belts arnt that failsafe, go and chat to someone who specialises in recon of these boxes
as I understood the economics
i) CVT cheaper to make originally
ii) However more expensive to repair/recon/fix
iii) CVT fail MUCH more often
probably failures during warranty even out the original cost saving to a car maker
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I always understood that the problem with the Ford CTX boxes was due to a production economy that affected the ability of the box to retain its ATF long-term. That's why the Focus got a Mazda 4-speed autobox instead of the CTX.
HJ
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the failed ones i know about directly had snapped belts with ATF level intact
belts damage gearbox case/housing, and that becomes the major cost
however maybe more probs with other examples loosing oil and knackering
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RogerL,
I worked on the Daf / Volvo range for about 5 years. Actually the belts were probably the strongest link in a fairly weak chain. They were service items needing regular inspection and changing, an easy enough job with the right tools. They would last up to 30,000 miles with the average driver. (Racing types didn't buy Dafs). There were several variations of the belt drive, early ones didn't have a diff. later ones did. The 46 model had only one belt. Volvo introduced a few refinements to try and make the transmission more driver friendly. Each variation had it's own problems but belt breakage was low down on the list. (except for the 46, a bit of a disaster). At one time we tried fitting some after market 'everlasting' belts, these had drive surfaces similar to a modern fan belt, you can imagine the racket they made at times, we had to take them off. One little known advantage of the Dafs was that they could go as fast in reverse as they could forward.
Steve
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Having clocked up around 140,000 miles in two different Fords with CVT (Escort 1.6 and Fiesta 1.25 both from new) without any gearbox problems, I have always been a bit puzzled by complaints about these 'boxes. My mileage was substantially motorway, admittedly, but included the stop-start M25 bit past Heathrow from the M40 to A3, and the remainder in town traffic. A colleague, who switched to CVT on my recommendation, did require an adjustment on her Escort to correct selection but otherwise it motored on to 70-80K replacement happily.
David
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If you want good autoboxes especially on small engines stick with a Japanese/far east brand,they must have more experience of them and they seem to perform reliably.
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I agree with T Lucas that Japanese auto gearboxes are very good but Japanese car brands are not the only ones to use them. Vauxhall, Opel and Saab all use Aisin-Warner front-wheel drive auto boxes and are very reliable.
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