I just bought a new car, a Subaru Forester. It has a CVT. However, as it accelerates, it sounds like an automatic transmission car with just a few gears. The motor gradually speeds up, then suddenly steps down in speed as the car feels a slight boost forward. Then again, then again, the whole time I’m accelerating. I think a time series graph of ratio would look like a staircase, when it could be smooth. Why?
Thanks!
Some CVTs are programmed to emulate the shifting of a typical transmission just so their owners don’t freak out over the CVT not feeling like it’s shifting at all. The “stepping” isn’t necessary. It’s just that some drivers are uncomfortable without it.
Yeah, exactly. Which I think is the dumbest thing, but maybe as more people also have experience with EVs that don’t shift, the CVT makers can drop this weird pretense.
Wow. So it it’s kinda like the fake “paddle shifters”.
I’ve seen lots of instances of people using ‘discrete’ where they mean ‘discreet,’ but I think this is the first time I’ve seen the reverse.
The transmission might have different modes, and you might have it in the mode where it emulates a conventional automatic. Have a look in your owner’s manual to see if there’s a way to change modes.
There was even a commercial about way back when:
I have the same complaint in my Crosstrek. I think it’s just how Subaru does their CVTs, and I don’t believe there is a way to disable that and change it to a truly continuous mode.
Search the internet for “Subaru CVT shift points” and you’ll see a ton of threads on other forums discussing this, e.g.:
(Are these forums all the same…? They all look the same…)
On the other hand… their EVs truly are gear-less. Huge difference compared to the jerky CVTs.
Some people just have to be different.
Apparently if you hold down the brake and accelerator at the same time, and then let go of the brake, it will skip the fake shifts for as long as you’re accelerating: willba4 comments on Remove fake shifting for 2019-2020 CVT (or you can use cruise control)
Considering the failure rates of CVTs, it seems to me that putting in fake shifts is the worst of both worlds.
Are they especially bad? Subaru is currently #1 in reliability according to Consumer Reports, and I think all their cars except the sporty manual ones are CVT now?
But those are based on owner surveys, of that small % of car owners who still fill out CR surveys…
And that’s for new cars. For used, Subaru drops to #9.
Do yours still have them? On mine, they’re not “fake” per se, they just go from shift point to shift point. The fake manual mode is not especially useful in regular driving, but can be useful going downhill and locking it in 2 or 3 — yes, even with a CVT, the shift points still approximate traditional gears. Maybe in combination with engine throttling, not sure… discussion: How do I go down hill correctly with the CVT? : Subaru_Outback
Some later models will use X-mode hill descent control for that instead, but mine doesn’t have that.
I have the opposite situation. My 2021 Jeep has an 8 speed automatic transmission - the shifts are so close together I can’t really feel it shifting.
Last year I test-drove an EV that when you put it drive and let your foot off the brake the car would creep forward like an ICE automatic would. No need for that in an EV but that’s what some drivers would expect.
The more I think about this, the nuttier it gets. They’re using a 130+ kilowatt engine to create sound effects. It would have been better to have sound effects play through the radio speakers. There’s no way this setup isn’t implemented through software, so it would hardly have cost anything to allow the user (or perhaps the dealership) to disable it and let transmission ratios be set for fuel efficiency instead. It defeats the purpose of a CVT, at least sometimes. I hope this is only done during acceleration when many drivers would most likely notice it (as did I).
As much as I didn’t think I’d ever want anything to do with any type of ‘brake hold’*, I’ve gotten quite used to it. My previous two cars had it and I never used it. The second of those two cars, for whatever stupid reason, it had to be activated each time you turned the car on. So even when I did try it, I’d always find myself creeping forward anyway because I never activated it. However, my current car (no pun intended but ‘current car’ and ‘electric vehicle’ kinda works) has one-pedal driving. With those two both activated, I can easily go from point A to point B with out ever touching the brake pedal other than to start the car and put it in gear.
*For full disclosure, the first car I had with it was stick shift and I refused to use Brake hold or Hill Assist since I really enjoy driving stick and they felt like cheating.
I don’t think it’s just a sound thing, but having discrete breaks in acceleration. You can really feel it at highway speeds, especially on the more underpowered Subies like my Crosstrek. There are noticeable lurches as it shifts.