I have a UK spec Sport with CVT. Now I love the CVT in normal driving and I'm getting 46mpg (38mpg US). But I do occasionally get a bit miffed with the delay in pulling away from stationary when I floor the accelerator. I've only had the car three weeks but I was wondering if anyone had a workaround for it?

It happens in auto and manual mode so I'm guessing it's the clutch that is taking its time.

Any comments?

 

Seeing as you have a CVT, the system has no clutch. Maybe the hesitation is caused by the a combination of the Throttle-By-Wire and the nature of CVT itself, having to slowly, continuously adjust ratios, maybe not allowing it to jump on the power as quickly. I'm sure the CVT on the Jazz is different than the one on let's say an Infiniti FX, with the latter being high-performance oriented rather than for economy?

 

It does have a clutch. That was why I finally went away from a manual box. Technology/marketing finally came up with an auto that was comparable to a manual and didn't waste power in a torque converter.

http://www.insightcentral.net/encyclopedia/encvt.html

"The Honda Multimatic does not use a torque converter, but uses a newly designed multi-layered clutch."

If I select 1st before moving off I'd have thought the gear ratio would be ready selected so I can only assume the delay comes from the transmission trying to bleed the power in gradually or some such.

But gripe aside I do love the CVT. Very smooth in normal driving, no hunting as you'd get with a conventional auto. It also gives access to a really tall gear when cruising. At 60mph on the flat it its at a smidgeon over 2k RPM.

Definitely confirms my belief that CVT is the way all gearboxes should be - no wonder the FIA banned them so quickly

 

my mom has a murano with cvt, same crappy acceleration feel. Pulling onto a freeway is a different story. Makes me feel like my mom could beat my car sometimes.

 

In normal use the acceleration is fine. About what I'd expect from a 1.3l engine (wish they'd given us Europeans access to the 1.5l option) I don't get bothered by the sound of the CVT (ie;constant revs) because I can see and feel it accelerating. Actually accelerating hard is quite invigorating. The engine note at redline is quite good and it's fun knowing that that someone else is taking care of it

It's only from stationary that there is this delay. If I'm creeping forward at 5mph and jab my foot down it jumps to nearly the red line and shoots forward. From stationary it rolls forward for half a second and then jumps forward. There's a definite delay rather than just poor acceleration. Almost like a turbo delay

It means you can't do jack-rabbit starts (unless you can work out the trick of it) but then I don't do many of those anyway. They are usually a bit risky at the best of times

 

My advise to you is to "think ahead"

There will be a delay. If you know you will be going you can press on the throttle a tad earlier and retrain yourself.

You're going to either live with the lag or throttle up sooner.

We do this kind of adjustment when on the track or when driving at autocross.

A moment of pause when on the street is hardly a problem.

Maybe get to a driving school and then practice making adjustments.
Get your instructor to drive and see how they handle it.

The CVT should have a sport driving mode and a manual shift mode. You can try these out and exploit the technology.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/cvt.htm

How the MINIs with CVT do it:
http://www.mini2.com/forum/cvt-autom...technique.html
and
http://www.motoringfile.com/2003/09/...ed-AFullReview

 

We don't get the CVT in the US, so none of us will have any actual feedback on it, but I bet what's happening is that the gearing ratio is not adjusting itself when decelerating or stopping, so when you start to go again, THEN it adjusts the ratios, causing a bit of a delay.

I understand how a CVT works, and honestly, can't think of a way around it unless Honda comes out with some kind of update for the controller to make it prepare to GO again when you're slowing down or when you stop.

 

Well I'm used to it now. It's not something I do very often because on the street that kind of dash for a gap usually implies poor planning but sometimes in rush hour you can get sick of waiting. The trick is just to aim at the car you want to pass behind rather than the gap itself. A little unnerving but doable