Nissan Micra CVT 2013 & Hyundai i10 Automatic Test Drive

rakish · Jul 29, 2013

I happened to see these articles about automatics.
Automatics & CVT Transmissions | The Dog and Lemon Guide

Should you buy a car with a CVT transmission?

I also happened to go through a discussion on the very high cost of maintenance of a CVT with regard to Coolants,brake Oil & Pads etc etc.
I can't make out what to do. ALso, the feedback on Nissan Customer Service is also not that good.

rafian · Jul 29, 2013

rakish said:

Spoke to a guy who recently bought Micra CVT. This guy travels to Coorg as part of his job. He's made trips to Coorg couple times already on his new Micra CVT. He says that he did not face any issues with ground clearance with 3 more adults in the car. Makes you think what 154mm of GC really means for a Micra.

rafian · Jul 29, 2013

rakish said:

Rakish thanks a lot for bringing this up for discussion. I've read these articles.
Several car manufacturers (with Nissan setting an example early) now provide power train (Engine+CVT) warranty of over 100K miles (not kms). The technology is now matured. And one of the reasons I am considering buying a Micra CVT is because it uses the latest technology.

In the last few weeks I read hundreds of happy stories posted by long term CVT car owners. Today we've the most reliable cars (Lexus/Honda/Toyota) using CVT.

The only compromise we would be making by buying Nisaan cars is that they have very few service centers. And we don't know much about the quality of service. By end of this year they are going to have two more service centers. I would go with the assumption that it's going to get only better.

Thanks again for bringing up this discussion on CVT.

rafian · Jul 29, 2013

rakish said:

Coolant, break pads, engine oils, filters have nothing to do with CVTs. There's this CVT specific transmission oil that must be used as per the maintenance schedule. That is one important thing to keep in mind. That's the only thing that must be changed in a CVT.

As you might be aware, we are required to change transmission oil even in geared automatic cars. Their oil change schedule might be a bit different though.

Hyundai plans to change the transmission oil on my automatic santro next year (it's driven 18K). And that oil is meant only for automatic transmission. If I put in a different oil (or don't do it right) it will break the transmission.

paguj · Aug 1, 2013

Hi All Car lovers.

This is my first post on this forum and I am looking forward to it.

I have got few questions about Micra CVT as I am planning to buy it for my Dad. I live in Melbourne and I have got Honda accord 2.3 8th Gen and Hyundai excel Automatic which is really old.

The reason I am mentioning this is because I know how the reactions are of these transmissions. I am happy with their gear shifting and power.

I like to drive on highways and whenever I come to India my main travelling is on the highways and different cities.

I read many people are concerned about CVT power. I can wait for the car to respond on highway but what if you are changing a lane or merging on highway and you need some extra power to maintain the safe distance with other cars?

or what about making a U-turn quickly on the busy road or highway.

May be owner of the car can answer this or whoever has driven it.

is it a really concern to get an extra power whenever you need it ?

Cheers

rafian · Aug 1, 2013

paguj said:

- Power is not a problem based on my limited experience gained while TDing the Micra CVT.
- Pick-up of Micra CVT is one of the positives based on feedback I got from two existing Micra CVT owners.

Whoever plans to buy Nissan car should spend time on figuring out the location and quality of their service centers. Nissan quality is as good as Honda/Toyota. In this case, the Micra has better interiors and overall quality (feeling/wow factor) compared to similar cars by Honda/Toyota.

paguj · Aug 1, 2013

rafian said:

- Power is not a problem based on my limited experience gained while TDing the Micra CVT.
- Pick-up of Micra CVT is one of the positives based on feedback I got from two existing Micra CVT owners.

Whoever plans to buy Nissan car should spend time on figuring out the location and quality of their service centers. Nissan quality is as good as Honda/Toyota. In this case, the Micra has better interiors and overall quality (feeling/wow factor) compared to similar cars by Honda/Toyota.

Thanks Rafian,

I will desperately wait for an ownership review for Micra CVT. [:)]

rakish · Aug 1, 2013

This is something I saw in another forum. This person had been using CVT for 4 years. This is what he had to say:

"It does drive a bit differently than a standard transmission which can be a tad annoying. Basically the car does not try to move forward until you press the gas. It does not creep forward when shifted into drive.

This creates two minor issues:

1. The car wants to roll back on most inclines unless you give it a tap of gas (inclines that most other cars would not roll back on).

2. The car wants to ride over the snow rather than cut into it (It drives ok in snow, but not a bull in the snow).

On the plus side the CVT is smoother riding than a regular transmission not sure about the gas mileage but I think if it improved the mileage by a mile or two it is worth it.
Now for the gothchas:
The CVT requires special transmission fluid and this service can only be done by the dealer. I think I had mine replaced at 30,000miles (not sure…I think I did it two years ago or early last year.) It is one of those must do things. It does not need to be changed yearly, just when the required mileage is up.

The rubber band effect. This is something you basically adapt to. If you put the petal to the metal, the engine will rev but the car will go nowhere then zoom! Basically you learn how hard to gun it to assure that your car accelerates rather than pause and zoom. However in order to do this you really have to gun it and if you know about the effect it does not surprise you.

Despite the all the gothas and the warnings I like the CVT and would purchase it again. The gotchas are minor in the grand scheme of things and I live in an area with flat terrain. If I lived in a hilly area or an area that receives a lot of snow (and the snow does not get plowed) I would advise against it."

Hope this helps.

rafian · Aug 1, 2013

Rakish, thanks for bringing in more info on the Micra CVT. I appreciate the awareness you're generating in this thread.
My thoughts on the above points:
- I don't understand the stuff about snow - ride over vs into. I've driven in snow and you just drive over the snow. We usually drive with chains if there's lot of snow. May be I am missing something. I would like to know the details.
- If you're on an incline the car may not move up without gas. That is the case with all automatics. I am not sure what happens when you don't give gas to a geared automatic. I would not like to try that on my geared automatic car. I do know that the car tries to roll back. Whether it actually rolls back, I don't know. I've never tried this thing on my automatics. I am not concerned about this at all since you could give gas and move on.
- If you floor the automatic you get a solid feeling of the gear movements (1st, 2nd, ...). In CVT cars you don't get that feeling. It's just going going and catching speed. When I tried flooring the Amaze AT, Brio AT and i10 AT, they made a big deal about it (engine noise and shifting). Amaze in particular was terrible.
- Lastly, when you floor the geared automatics like Amaze, Brio, i10, they don't give you 0-100km in 10 seconds. The sound and feeling is awesome, in the sense that the mind feels that the car is taking off like a rocket. In reality nothing great is happening. It's only as fast or a bit slower than their CVT counterpart.

I think it's a matter of getting used to the CVT.

rakish · Aug 1, 2013

Rafian,
I am also in the process of getting to know the CVT and have been browsing the forums.The one I mentioned was something i chanced upon in another forum. I do not know much about it. Just wanted to bring into discussion a related post.
I am also keenly watching this thread and am yet to decide on whether to go for this particular car,trying to form an informed opinion before deciding on it.
Your inputs so far have been terrific.

ajit4u2k · Aug 1, 2013

rakish said:

I test drove the Micra CVT and it does creep like all automatics. Lift your foot off the brake in D mode and it starts moving forward without any gas pedal input.

rafian · Aug 1, 2013

CVTs push the car forward as much as geared automatics do. I've carefully noticed this during my TDs. It's a good solid pull.

paguj · Aug 2, 2013

Hi Rakish,

All automatic cars roll back on the steep incline. It also depends on the weight of your car and engine capacity.

Cars with higher engine capacity can stand few steep slopes ( again it depends on the weight of the car) where other with low capacity will roll back.

It applies to all Automatic cars. [;)]

ajit4u2k · Aug 2, 2013

Agree with paguj, all automatics roll back if the incline is steep.

jeev12 · Aug 3, 2013

Dear rafian, thank you so much for initiating the discussion, I was following the thread for some time as am in look out for a city car (automatic).

I do have few questions to the respected members.

1) Micra CVT do have an Overdrive option, was this option active during your test drives? Has anyone done a TD with and without activating? If yes, is there an evident difference?
2) MID indicated an average millage of 10.7. What Nissan claims is a mileage of 19? Can this difference be due to driving style? Or in reality expectation of mileage should be in and around 10-13 in city?

thanks

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