rented a nissan altima CVT-very impressed

[bandit86]

drove 425kms, 120-130 all the way except for the 1 hour traffic jam and 1 hour city driving, still averaged 7.4 L/100km. I would have liked to slow down and play with it, seemed to be down to low 5s when at 100 but I was late

[Joe_Bloe]

I had the same experience. I rented a Sentra 1.8L CVT last week for three days, while my Pieceofsh!tT Cruiser was in the shop.

I wasn't even aware when I rented it that it was the CVT. I generally don't like automatics, because I like to have more control over shifts. I drove it like I drive an auto -- very small throttle openings off the line, get the car to upshift to top gear and lock up the converter, then experiment with how much throttle I can give it without a downshift.

I noticed that when I drove like that, the tach would hover right around 1200 RPM and just stay there. I was amazed -- "hey, I got a CVT here and I didn't even know it!" My commute is all city, gentle hills, some stop and go, speeds between 15 and 50 mph. I averaged 29.6 mpg (7.95 L/100km). In the city!