Subaru Legacy - Lineartronic v/v DAF Transmatic

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Sun 23 May 2010 20:45
Subaru Legacy - Lineartronic v/v DAF Transmatic - hillman

Do any of the BRs have views on the evolution of the Lineartronic CVT and its practicality ? The salesman told me that Subaru were the first to make a successful steel chain / belt CVT (what's in a word). I remember the successful DAF Transmatic that was applied to a racing car to prove a point before it was retired because of 'fashion'.

Does the engine of the Legacy run straight away at optimum speed until the car catches up as did the DAF ?

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Sun 23 May 2010 21:48
Subaru Legacy - Lineartronic v/v DAF Transmatic - daveyjp

It's not successful until it has been around 10 years with daily abuse and no inherent design faults found.

The Audi A4 2.0TDi CVT I once drove was terrible.

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Sun 23 May 2010 22:24
Subaru Legacy - Lineartronic v/v DAF Transmatic - RicardoB

I don't know anything about the Lineartronic, but I do know that CVTs seem to be misunderstood by "experts" and the masses. It's fair to say that there have been some ups and downs over the years.

The original DAF Variomatic "rubber belt" transmission did pretty well from its launch in 1958 to its end in the Volvo 340 in 1991.

Through the 1970s and 80s, van Doorne Transmissie (the family successor to DAF) continued to work on its successor to the Variomatic, the Transmatic, and the main difference was indeed the use of steel segment drivebelt as opposed to rubber belt, and it was a "push" system as opposed to a "pull". The new transmission was also designed to be integrated into the engine, i.e. front wheel drive cars, whereas the DAF Variomatic was front engine with the transmission at the back - 50/50 weight. Where else have we come across that?!

Ford, Fiat and Subaru, then later, Rover, Chrysler, Mercedes and others, worked with van Doorne with a view to launching the Fiesta, Uno and Justy etc with the new generation CVT. To many people's surprise, Subaru did indeed beat Ford and Fiat to a launch of such a car in about 1986. The Fiesta and Uno CVT appeared in 1987.

Unfortunately, it is fair to say that there were some difficulties and issues with the new generation CVT, and it continues to be developed today by van Doorne who have also, I think, worked with Bosch and ZF over the years.

With regards to racing cars, in the 1960s, DAF ran some Formula 3 cars with the rubber belt transmission, they had mega success in Rallycross, and of course, successfully completed in the London-Sydney marathon.

In the early 1990s, Van Doorne (vDT) teamed up with the Williams F1 team and ran/tested a car fitted with steel belt transmission. David Coulthard was the test driver, and this car immediately cut the lap time at Silverstone. It was as a result of this, I believe, that caused the F1 people to not allow automatic transmissions on F1 cars.

Film of Coulthard testing the car and talking with enthusiasm about the CVT can be found on YouTube.

And more about DAFs can be found at the DAF Owners Club www.dafownersclub.co.uk. Various prototypes and actual Transmatic transmissions can also be seen at the DAF museum in Eindhoven.

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Mon 24 May 2010 21:38
Subaru Legacy - Lineartronic v/v DAF Transmatic - hillman

"It's not successful until it has been around 10 years with daily abuse and no inherent design faults found."

If that was the case then what would be successful ?

Thank you RicardoB. I read something in the past about the successful test of the steel belt CVT on a racing car to settle the doubts of Car Corp, but they did not taking it up because of their 'head in the sand' attitude.

My cousin ran a DAF for a number of years in the 60s and 70s and wouldn't part with it.

I find that it's best to learn about a car before you go into the agents beacause they are mainly interested in the colours, paddles, buttons on the steering wheel etc. Does the engine choose its own rpm with the Lineartronic as did the Transmatic ?

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