Question to all LX CVT owners:
Does your LX CVT accelerate any faster when put in "L" gear? This is true on the Nissan CVT I tried, and also to some degree on my 4-speed slush box Corolla.

My reasoning is that the "L" gear will try kept the CVT at the lower gear range as much as possible and thus helping the engine rev to the power band sooner.

It would be great for some LX CVT owner to post what they find!

Thank

 

I have tested this at the dragstrip, with and without traction control. It is slightly slower than keeping it in D. The owner's manual shows that L is for Low. It is used to further increase engine braking and when going up or down hills. That's it!

S is used for better acceleration, to increase engine braking and when going up or down hills. I have not noticed any better acceleration from a stop using S mode than from using D mode. S mode acceleration is faster than D mode when the car is already moving.

 

Thanks for the reply! Further question regarding the "L" gear:
1. When you accelerate in "L" do you feel the rev climb faster than S and L?
2. Let say if you are cruising at ~30mph in D, and then you shift it to "L" what RPM does the engine climb to? What about at ~55mph?

The reason I am very interested in the "L" behavior in the CVT is that I use the "L" gear on my conventional automatic alot. When driving in twisty roads, I usually shift into L right before going into a tight corner to engine brake/maintain higher RPM. By keeping the RPM high, I can then quickly accelerate out of the corner.

Also, what your estimated for stock LX CVT 0-60MPH? I followed lots out track run thread, but non of them seems to be stock. They all seem to have some kinds of fancy intake mod done to them!

 

Haven't tested the L gear yet, only S. I never tested it because the owner's manual never referenced it to help increase acceleration. Guess I'll check eventually.

stock 60mph based off of this webpage Wallace Racing -Calculate how fast your car goes 0 - 60 mph and my stock drag strip time of 1/8th time 11.223 and 1/8th speed of 64.09 is 9.8 seconds.

 

OH danggg, so the intake makes that much of a difference(two seconds in this case). I see from your drag strip videos, your 0-60 was 7.9 second!

 

Not just any intake. I'm still testing. But the short answer is yes, to a degree. Depending on the intake setup you have (I'm sure people/manufacturers will come up with a lot of stuff...hopefully), you can gain 1-2mph (Maybe slightly more). From what I'm seeing from using multiple 1/4 mile calculators, this gain calculates to 7-11hp. I know it seems like a lot and I'm a dyno junkie but I find the dragstrip much cheaper these days (Staying away from dynos as my testing years ago on them actually caused an issue with my marriage at one time..lol).

I have lightened the vehicle some as well and I have an aftermarket muffler installed. The hp differences I've indicated above were only after changing intakes. The vehicle weight and muffler may have contributed to the reduction in 1/4 mile time but I can not say how much if any.

Also, testing different intakes on my Android Torque Pro software, I was seeing hp numbers jump up by the same margin.


All in all, these are just tools and guesstimates but there's no arguing about the trap speeds I was getting. I'm satisfied with this data though. The two timeslips in my sig is the best modified stock intake 1/4 mile & traps I've gotten vs the best custom intake 1/4 mile time and trap that I've gotten out of all the runs I've done so far.

I've posted a thread on how to accelerate faster in a CVT. This works from a dead stop or from a roll. Test yourself and share your results.

 

According to Edmounds, here how they achieved 0-60 in 8.8 sec in a stock EX-L:
"Typical CVT action here, slow-revving on its way up to 6,600 rpm. Power-braking at launch (overlapping throttle and brake to bring the revs up) netted about two-tenths. Doing that plus using Sport/Manual mode in "1st gear," then shifting to Drive just before it hit 6,000 rpm (at which point it would have "shifted" with a loss in revs) and then letting it do its incessant wind-out for the remainder of the quarter-mile proved by far the quickest method."

2015 Honda Fit Road Test Specs | Edmunds.com

Looks like paddle shifters does have some use here :/


According to this video, the RPM seems to climb very slowly after 4000RPM.

It seems the default D/L gear does not try to reach 6000RPM in a hurry. Theoretically, the fastest acceleration is achieved when the CVT kept the lowest gear as long as possible until you hit 6600RPM, and then stay there. It seems the Honda engineers are holding back on the CVT programming.

 

Great video and thanks for posting a link to it. 'S' mode does seem quicker than 'D' mode. Wish he showed a test of it in 'L' mode as well.

I put up a couple of videos racing at the dragstrip. At some point, I'll put up a video with my phone showing the actual dash rpm going up. Nevertheless, look at one of the videos I put up at the dragstrip.


Notice I brake torque it lightly before taking off. Then you hear me step on the gas at 0:31. I let off, then you hear me step on the gas again at 0:32-0:33. The rpm jumps up instantly but I wasn't satisfied at how high it jumped up. Then I let off and you hear me step on the gas again at 0:33.
Bump………..BUmp……BUMP……

When I did this, the rpm gauge was at 5200rpms or so, then climbed from there. You don't have to wait for it to get up there. You can make the rpm band jump up there yourself. This is what I was posting about in my link on how to get faster acceleration out of a CVT.

I still want to learn what exactly is going on that allows the 'S' mode to accelerate quicker than the 'D' mode like in his test. Something allows this (ECU/TCU programming) to be more aggressive. Whatever it is, it would be great to unlock this potential to control it somehow.

 

thanks Myxalplyx!

I think it would be definitely interesting to see how fast the RPM climbs with your "pumping" method via a direct dashcam. The torque app might have some lag, so it's hard to tell. I tried the pumping method once when I test drove an EX yesterday, but it does not seemed to made too much of difference. I did not attempt again as the sales person was glaring at me .

One thing, I kinda dislike the Fit 2015 is how slow the RPM climbs to peak power. If you look at the video below, you see the Accord CVT goes to red line basically ASAP. Base on final drive and CVT ratio, the fit should be able to hit 6000+rpm at just below 40mph. I have a conspiracy theory that Honda is artificially limiting the performance of the Fit CVT so they don't cannibalize their higher end models.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyCu...ature=youtu.be

There you go Eigenmeat! Compare and see how it goes.

I feel bad because I didn't hit 6000rpm by 40mph like you wanted. I was only showing how to accelerate the Fit quickly. Now.....6000rpm by 40mph is my goal. Brb..... :-)

 

'S' Mode!
6000rpm at 40mph

0-60 in 7 seconds!

 

Hahhaha, now THAT is fast!!!!! Does that mean this CVT fit is faster than a AT FRS/BRZ???

I played your vid at slow motion, and you did your "double tap" technique for 5 times!! Gotta practice that quick foot work! It seems "S" mode with lots of tabs is the key! Getting the most out of this CVT seems to be just as difficult as shifting a manual perfectly! What is your "success" rate on this? haha

I wonder if L mode will let you skid the double taps before 4500RPM?Since I would assume L gear will make the CVT keep the lowest gear until 4000RPM+.

According to Honda manual, they officially says that VSA changes how the accelerator responses:
https://techinfo.honda.com/rjanisis/...404O00183B.pdf
"When VSA activates, you may notice that the engine does not respond to
the accelerator in the same way it does at other times."

Wonder how VSA affects the double tap technique.

In any cases, congratz! I wonder why Honda tries to keep all these power "hidden".

 

As you requested. And yes, 'L' mode seems to be slightly faster than 'S' mode. I have to compare all the videos, 0-60mph timing and when the needle is hitting 6000rpm.
It appears 'L' mode and the *Myxal Two-Step* allows the rpm needle to hit 6000rm between 35-38mph. 'S' mode + the **Myxal Two-Step** makes it hit 6000rpm at 40mph.
And D....well....u can look at JJCentral's 0-60 video in a CVT above. 'D' mode hit 5200rpm at 60mph. 'S' mode hits 6000rpm at 52mph.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cT-...ature=youtu.be



This is some exciting shi*! I need to test this at the track for confirmation...asap.

 

haha, great to hear it helped! I bet you can clear 15.5sec on the track now with all these new found secret techniques!

If you got the chance, try to post a video with L and VSA off. I would like to see how L mode behaves just by flooring it!

I have another suggestion for you to try:
Start in D/S, when you get to about 3000RPM, downshift to L, and see what happens . Based on my experience, the L gear does magical things in automatics

 

just watch more your vids, your 2010 V6 RAV is a BEASSSTTT. It's easily as fast as a current gen WRX!

 

I don't know how the pros do it but I only use "L" mode when I am on Econ Mode and climbing... After that I just switch back to "D". So that's that for everyday/normal use I guess.

 

Thanks for shedding so much info on the L mode and burst acceleration techniques. Should be interesting to try and figure out the CVT programming habits.

 

Yes, it's very interesting. I'm at a dragstrip now and tested the L gear on a relatively hot engine. I'm letting the car cool now but I ran a 15.924@88.88mph and a 15.863@87.34mph. It's going to get cooler with more testing to come. Awesome!!!

Will post my best two slips later tonight. I love this CVT. Lol...

 

You guys own me this "L" gear technique thinggy .

Myxalplyx, my guess is you can get 15.8sec 1/4 on the strip! See if you get the chance to do a run in "L" mode without the double tapping technique.

jjcentral, glad that you found this thread, I posted the inquiry in your part 4 youtube video, but no replied there. I hope you can give this a try as well, as your LX is stock.

Edit: based on jjcentral's latest youtube reply, it seems "L" mode don't work well without double tapping.

 

Yes you are right, single tap caps the rpm at 4k. Double or triple tap needed to go beyond that. I love it