I'm on my second Honda Fit. I can't say it it's the most exciting car to drive but both have had zero trouble with the CVT at 110,000+ miles. The first one died a violent death (totaled twice in a year) and the second is going strong. All the major systems performed flawlessly, though there were some struggles with the hatchback handle and the tire pressure monitoring system.
I do remember renting a Dodge Caliber year back when the CVT performed terribly going up hills as automatic but it wasn't bad at all if you used the paddle shifters. I did read reviews of people who bought the things, drove 20,000 miles and complained bitterly about performance and never figured out about the paddle shifters though.
Probably bought it back from the insurance company after the first totaling. You have the option to receive $(insurance payout - current value of wrecked car) and keep the car.
I'm rather convinced that people's negative opinions of cars are almost exclusively influenced by their usage of them. Cars are complex. They all break. Everyone complains about the brands they drive, while almost always continuing to buy those brands.
I had a Chevy that very much enjoyed breaking in annoying ways (window motors, fan actuators), but I generally do like the Chevy brand.
The real issue to me with American cars, going forward, is that I cannot rely on the company to exist at any point in the future. Strikes that reduce parts and labor while making unaffordable pension demands are going to keep me away from unioned brands. And I am currently in the market for a new vehicle.
A lot of people cite CR, but their methodology is flawed. They count a confusing volume button equal to a blown transmission, and they only survey their userbase. I fundamentally do not trust a list that ranks BMW well.
I don't get what you mean here. Why else would they have negative opinions of them?
Also, we bought a minivan in 2003, put 250,000 miles on it with no major repairs, got in an accident that totaled it, replaced it with a new version of the same model, have nearly 100,000 problem-free miles on it, and would buy the same model again if something happened to this one. Some people genuinely like their vehicles. I'd guess that most people do.
Your example demonstrates what I'm talking about, but in reverse (building a positive opinion).
There are a lot of cars that will easily go 250k miles, in the same way your car does. However, your opinion of other car brands doesn't go up based on your positive experience with this car. Other car brands might actually be more reliable, but you can't form that opinion since you don't drive _other car brand_ (since most people have 1, maybe 2, cars for a long time, it's likely you aren't simultaneously experience many other car brands).
The same thing happens, in reverse. People rip on X, Y, or Z car brand for being unreliable without evaluating against the broader market. They drive X, something broke on X, so X sucks. Doesn't matter if A, B, and C brands use the exact same part from the exact same supplier, the negative opinion only applies to the brand that actively broke on the user.
I believe they're saying that the people who strongly complain about the brand that they drive are a subset of people who misuse their car and cause problems, or just always find something to complain about. That's why every single car brand has someone who complains about the brand.
No matter what brand they would have driven, they would have had something to complain about.
> No matter what brand they would have driven, they would have had something to complain about.
This is basically what I'm saying. Though, I'm not necessarily saying misuse happens. Cars are complex, things break - even on the "best" car brands.
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Right now, I have a poor opinion of GM exhaust systems and catalytic converters. I've had them go out "prematurely" on two vehicles that I've owned for extended periods of time. However, there's absolutely no indication any other vehicle would have done better in the same situation. It just happens that these are the two vehicles I owned long enough and drove enough for the exhaust system to go out.
A better explanation is that manufacturing isn't perfect and while that variability has definitely gotten better over the years, it still isn't perfect.
This is honestly surprising to me. I've driven some old ass Nissans and they are ridiculously reliable machines. 240SX and the entire Silvia engine line is solid.
Never owned a CVT but from what I understand they basically trade off fuel consumption for a bit of longevity?
All of the pre-2000 Nissans my family have owned or that my friends have owned seemed to be pretty decent (I loved my 1996 sentra). I'm really only referring to some vague date shortly after 2000 where quality took a nosedive. Not sure why though.
At some point around then I think Renault and Nissan got into some partnership.
Since owning a Peugeot in the late 90s/early 00s I have sworn off buying french cars. It required several clutches, brake calipers, a gearbox, wheel bearings, exhausts rotted like fresh fruit ... you name it - over the course of perhaps 4 or 5 years it needed to be replaced (potentially multiple times). Least reliable car I've ever had.
The thing that finally killed it was when pulling out across a busy road, the universal joint connecting one of the driven wheels to the drive shaft shattered, the drive shaft slipped out and got wedged between the inner wheel and the brakes and seized the wheel, and then it dumped a load of gearbox oil all over the road. As one of the wheels was now jammed solid it couldn't even be pushed out of the road and blocked traffic for an hour or so while we waited for it to be towed out of the way.
I have had non-Nissan Japanese cars (Honda, Toyota, Mazda) since then and they have been flawless without needing anything done apart from standard servicing.
I have a Nissan truck that has been quite good mechanically, but is rusting like a tin can. I'd be interested in another one but not unless they've improved their corrosion resistance.
I think it depends on the manufacturer. I have a Honda reaching higher mileage and it's a CVT and I love it. Never had one problem with it.
Also, I think this is one of those things where CVTs came out, there were a bunch of problems that popped up in the first 3-5 years with different manufacturers, and now those problems are largely fixed but it left people feeling apprehensive around it. Honestly, I think this CVT ICE car is going to be my last gas car anyway. It'll probably last me another 5 years easily and by then there will be even more options for cheaper EVs in the US.
There are multiple class action lawsuits and settlements with Nissan over their CVTs. My Versa with a CVT started dying around 70k miles. It had all its scheduled service. I brought it to a Nissan dealer, and paid for a transmission inspection, and they said it was totally fine, even though I regularly experienced it failing to shift (or slide, I guess) between gears while accelerating. Around 90k miles it stopped switching out of 1st gear while I was 400 miles from home. I brought it to a family friend mechanic, who showed me that the transmission fluid plug was covered in metal shavings.
CVTs, at least from Nissan are a black box. You can change the fluid, you can hook it up to a computer, but that's about it. There's no fixing them. When it's done you have to replace the entire transmission. I limped the car another 50 miles to a dealer and traded it in for a Chevy Cruze. I looked it up, and I was the only year model not to have a class action yet. Later there was, and I think they settled for a 500 dollar voucher towards a new Nissan. No thanks.
Nissan makes trash that can drive around for a little bit first, that's what this is.
CVTs are kind of crappy to begin with but Nissan CVTs are by far the worst.
I have heard however that their newer leaf is pretty good.