Dennis;
I'm not up to speed, (no pun intended), with CVT's in autos, but am somewhat familliar with them in farm tractors.
A true CVT has no set ratios like four speeds, six speeds, etc, the CV stands for constantly variable just like a hydrostat only it has a true mechanical connection instead of a fluid connection like a hydro. The Fendt Co. has had a CVT for years and others, including Deere that I'm familliar with have jumped on the band wagon. A few years ago I drove a 7000 series Deere with a CVT under load at a field demo. There were all sorts of situations you could set it to automaticly compensate for like max pull, max fuel economy, and I'm sure others that I don't remember now. OK, now I had the same feeling as you did with your brother's car, it was a dull thing to drive, there just wasn't much for the driver to do only steer, and now of course the GPS has taken over most of the steering in the latest tractors. My brother in law drove a GPS Deere for a neighbor doing fall tillage, I don't know if it was CVT, but he said the GPS made it a really boring thing to drive.
They ramble on and on about the effeciency of the six speed automatics, etc., I'd love to have a six speed manual in something just for the "fun" of driving it.

Frank.

Reply

Quote Reply

Digg It

Del.icio.us