QOTD: Pick Your Poison – CVT Or 4-Speed Auto
TTAC’s favorite beige appliance, the Toyota Corolla, is due for a redesign this year, and powertrain details are starting to leak out. For TTAC readers, there’s nothing but bad news.
It looks like buyers will have their choice of either a 4-speed automatic or a CVT. A 6-speed manual is technically available, but anyone who ever encounters a Corolla on the rental lot will most likely be stuck with one of these two transmissions.
The question for you, my darling readers, is which one would you prefer? The 4-speed seems like old hat in this day and age of 8,9 and even 10-speed transmissions, but it gets the job done with minimal fuss. Many of us also have a philosophical opposition to CVTs, but as Alex Dykes reports, some of them are actually quite good.
What would you rather take? Me? I’d demand an upgrade at the rental counter. But you don’t have that choice.
More by Derek Kreindler
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There is nothing wrong with a 4-Speed if it is done right. Look at the mid-late 1990s Cadillac DeVille, that transmission was smooth as butter. The 4-Speed in my old 2002 Tahoe was perfectly smooth and capable too. I understand it can be a problem in smaller cars like the Corolla without very much power. Being the owner of a CVT equipped Outback, I can say this. While I wasn't too keen on the CVT at first, it has earned my respect. It would be better than a comparable 4EAT in the car in terms of speed, millage, etc. I don't find the transmission particularly rough or elastic, it is smooth. Wasn't my first choice of a transmission, but it isn't half bad.
Four speed automatics and CVT's are both just fine. A CVT, properly programmed, will pick the gear ratio and throttle position to maximize efficiency, while giving the acceleration you ask for with your right foot. Four speed automatics also work just fine. If the top gear is tall enough to get good highway mileage, they give up little in efficiency, or acceleration to transmissions with more speeds. You will feel the shifts of a four speed more than with, say, a ten speed with much closer ratios, but so what?
CVT. Not just because I drive with one now, but because with a rental you're on the hook for gas and if you've got a CVT gearbox you've got far more say over how economically you drive. Watch the real-time MPG computer fluctuate by flexing the ankle of your right foot and you are able to exceed EPA ratings all day long. Fuelly.com don't lie.
CVT - put me firmly in the Alex Dykes camp. The more I drive them the more I like them, especially when coupled with a smaller engine. a 4spd auto is fine still, if it is bolted to something with displacement and torque. In a small car it just means lots of shifting and hunting for the right gear and will generally be in the wrong gear. the CVT is superior.