I later found out that the Sentra I had came with a CVT. HOWEVER, it had logic in the CPU to hold the car at certain RPMs to make it "feel" like it was shifting. What's the point?
To keep the engine in its powerband.
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I later found out that the Sentra I had came with a CVT. HOWEVER, it had logic in the CPU to hold the car at certain RPMs to make it "feel" like it was shifting. What's the point?
Well, naturally the point of changing gear ratios is to keep the engine in a usable range.To keep the engine in its powerband.
Well, naturally the point of changing gear ratios is to keep the engine in a usable range.
But I've had a couple recent Nissan rental cars with CVTs like the poster above, and it is amazing how hard they try to pretend they aren't CVTs.
There's no engineering reason for a CVT to hold a constant ratio and let the engine rpm rise with road speed. Presumably, Nissan decided most drivers were bothered by the variable ratios and needed the car to feel 'normal' and 'shift gears.'
They person I quoted specifically said the CVT would "hold the car at a certain RPM" which is exactly what a CVT does in order to keep said engine in its powerband. That said, RPMs can and will vary in a CVT for multiple reasons.
You're right, that's what he said. I don't really think that's what he meant (though I could be wrong.)
The first Nissan rental I had last year did such a consistent job of pretending to shift between fixed ratios that it took me a couple days to convince myself it wasn't an extremely smooth automatic with an unlocked torque converter. (The only thing that wasn't consistent was when it settled in to highway cruising, where it seemed to have several different top gear ratios at speed - which of course it did have, being a CVT. But if you got on it, it would quickly snap back to the same lower ratio, wherever that left the engine in the powerband.
Yup- me too. And CHG-ON said the same thing:
I used to like driving faster than everyone else, always in a hurry.
Now, I take my time and don't care so much- amazing change, and maybe related to being older.
......but maybe related to being able to go 0-100 in 3 seconds flat!! Do you think that stops you NEEDING to go fast?????
I also find that I can let the car worry about keeping a safe distance from the vehicle in front of me, and that greatly lowers stress as well.
Are you all saying that once I get my Tesla I will not want to take advantage of the instant torque and acceleration saving time and getting me out of the traffic sooner rather than later?
A Tesla is different things to different people, but even for (most of) those who don't focus on the power
the mere presence of that power improves the experience even if it is rarely used. In the long, long term,
though, I would agree that focus on power/speed/etc. will increasingly be a throwback to ICE cars as the entire
paradigm of personal transportation shifts (as gradually as that may be).