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I had a Dodge Caliber with the CVT. A CVT would be awesome for hyper milling... if you could reprogram the TCU. Unfortunately, you probably can't, so the TCU may end up fighting you. For example - if you pulse and glide, the engine will downshift slightly to match your attempt at acceleration. You can't really lock the transmission into a specific gear.
On the other hand, since it's got the complete range of input to output ratios, it can theoretically match the most efficient engine speed to the road speed and "assumed driver goal" ie acceleration, deceleration, cruising. I noticed when I turned on the cruise control the engine would drop RPMs since it realized that it was going for a steady state value.
This CVT was also not one of the ones with paddle shifters and preset "gears" that you can control - one of those might also be easier to control, like a manual transmission. You'd have some energy lost through the drive belt, I think.
Also, my drive belt started slipping shortly before I got rid of it. It would not have been a cheap repair.
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