CVT Automatic Gearboxes

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Mon 26 Nov 2007 17:43
CVT Automatic Gearboxes - drbe
There is a letter in the HJ column in Saturday's Daily Telegtaph warning buyers off CVT automatic gearboxes (presumably as opposed to torque converter gearboxes).

Is there a list anywhere which shows which cars have CVT boxes?

Is that the same thing as a magnetic clutch?
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Mon 26 Nov 2007 19:12
CVT Automatic Gearboxes - Ruperts Trooper
A CVT is very different to a magnetic clutch.
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Wed 28 Nov 2007 21:56
CVT Automatic Gearboxes - Avant
They do vary in effectiveness from car to car.

My last two cars had them. The Multitronic box worked very well in the A4 Avant 2.5 TDI, with no loss of performance or economy compared with a manual, but the similar CVT in the Mercedes B200 CDI involved noisy and tiresome revving to about 2,500 rpm every time you started from rest. Economy was mediocre too.

I've gone back to a manual: if I have another CVT or automatic it'll be something with 6 cylinders. The drone of a 4-cylinder diesel automatic I find very wearing.
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Wed 28 Nov 2007 22:30
CVT Automatic Gearboxes - retgwte
ive been in an auto recon specialist yard, specialising in recon CVT boxes, lots of different makes in there, the blokes running it doing very well, I guess if they become more popular and recons become cheaper then it would slip the balance more in their favour, after all one of the reasons the makers like them is they are cheaper to make

i think theres a business in shipping bust CVT boxes out to India, have them recond out there where labour is cheap, and bring em back, although its probably just as cheap to get new box


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Wed 28 Nov 2007 22:35
CVT Automatic Gearboxes - Ruperts Trooper
By the time a torque converter gearbox needs a rebuild, it's cheaper to scrap the high mileage car with little value - in other words, they last.

Do CVT's need rebuild so frequently to make it "economic"?
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Wed 28 Nov 2007 23:04
CVT Automatic Gearboxes - retgwte
CVT belts often snap on relatively young cars making even a brand new box economic

one car they even suggested changing the pedals and putting a manual box in, as it would then become a much more viable car!
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