Hello everyone. I finally got one.

[kentman4]

My first time driving a Kizashi. It was a CVT model. SE trim level. Didn't like the color of it, but I instantly wanted the car.

[paininthenuts]

The great thing about the CVT box compared with a conventional auto is there is no lag when you put your foot down from a stand still, and because there are no gears it is extremely smooth. More and more car manufacturers are now changing to a CVT box, including Audi and Honda. However it is true that flawing the accelerator from a stand still doesn't get you far. It's best to start off quite slowly and flaw it when you pick up a little speed. The mid range acceleration is fantastic.

[Woodie]

The reason is that they can program them to do well on the mileage tests, thereby getting an inflated number to use for advertising purposes.

The real life mileage doesn't pan out anywhere near as well, the reliability is sketchy, and for an enthusiast who wants to have a connection to his car and what the engine is doing, it's a flat out disaster. It's like the engine is connected to the wheels by a wet noodle.

[KuroNekko]

The great thing about the CVT box compared with a conventional auto is there is no lag when you put your foot down from a stand still, and because there are no gears it is extremely smooth. More and more car manufacturers are now changing to a CVT box, including Audi and Honda. However it is true that flawing the accelerator from a stand still doesn't get you far. It's best to start off quite slowly and flaw it when you pick up a little speed. The mid range acceleration is fantastic.

Actually, Audi is starting to look for alternatives to the CVT. They were one of the first to use them at a wide scale and now, they apparently want out. There were a number of articles stating that they were looking for alternatives. Honda, however, has jumped into the CVT bandwagon along with a few others. Subaru is one who also puts CVTs in just about anything now. Nissan is probably the biggest fan of CVTs and it's to their detriment, reliability-wise. Their cars rank pretty low in reliability these days with many of the issues involving their CVTs.

I think CVTs are fine for subcompacts, compacts, and some family midsizes however I believe they are ill-suited for performance-minded cars and for anything weighing more than 3500 lbs. Some brands have avoided CVTs for the sake of better performance such as Mazda and I consider it a good thing. While Honda does put CVTs in a lot of cars, I think it was a wise choice for them to use a torque converter-equipped DCT in the new Acura TLX (4 cylinder model). It supposedly provides the smooth low speed operation of conventional TC autos, but the better performance of a DCT in spirited driving. It's just too bad they did away with the manual transmission.

There are a number of reasons why Suzuki went with JATCO CVTs. One is that Suzuki needed to try show higher MPGs like rival vehicles. Their engine tech was dated compared to rivals with small turbos and/or direct injection so they needed a CVT to boost fuel efficiency figures, at least on paper. The other and the bigger one is that Suzuki is a 10% shareholder in JATCO, the company that makes the CVT in the Kizashi. It's really no secret why Mitsubishi, Suzuki, and Nissan use JATCO transmissions. They are 15%, 10%, and 75% shareholders in JATCO, respectively. In essence, Suzuki planned from the get-go to use a JATCO CVT in the Kizashi.