[Hawaii_SE-R]

Hi all,

I'm new to this forum and am seriously considering a Murano as my family vehicle of choice. The only drawback I forsee in the car at the moment is Nissan's choice (or lack thereof) of a tramsmission. Does anyone know if there are *any* rumblings about an optional transmission in the future other than the CVT? I am hoping they will make a 6-speed available one day seeing as how Nissan will be selling the Murnao in Japan and like much of the world, tends to drive "stick" rather than the US-favored "slushbox",

 

[BigRedNJ]

Mechanical reliability/unprovenness of technology aside, CVT is the way to go. Once you drive one it's difficult to go back to anything else. In 10 years every car will have one of these.

 

[9495]

First of all, why would someone prefer a 5-speed manual over a 6-speed manual????

Secondly, I personally feel that CVT transmissions are eventually going to become the "standard" transmission used in vehicles. I'm not an expert or anything, but it just seems to me that this type of transmission just makes a lot of sense. I think that the only reason that it hasn't really taken off in automobiles is because they have traditionally been on the weak side.

Now that materials and technology are getting better, CVTs have expanded beyond the small applications (snowmobiles, etc) and into larger vehicles (Audi A4, Mini, Murano, Vue). Given a few more years, I think that they'll become a mainstream transmission.

It obviously won't COMPLETELY replace the other transmissions, of course. A vehicle that needs a LOT of power or performance (heavy duty trucks, sports cars, etc) will need a different type of transmission to be optimized for it's needs. But once the technology is proven and powerful enough, I don't see why people would continue to use conventional automatic transmissions in "normal" passenger vehicles.

Think about it. If you ignore the reliability (or perceived reliability) problems due to the new technology and the lack of power that it can handle (both things will be resolved over time) there are a lot of benefits of the CVT over conventional automatics. Smooth shifting, better mileage, wider range of ratios, etc.

Then again, I'm just a geek that likes cool new technology, so maybe I'm not truely objective. But my feeling is that in another few years, we'll see a whole lot more CVTs and a whole lot less conventional automatics. Manual tranmissions are here forever, of course, because there are people like me who really like having that kind of control.

(hmmm.... I seem to be in a babbling mood today. Sorry for the long post that nobody cares about...) :2:

 

[Hawaii_SE-R]

First of all, why would someone prefer a 5-speed manual over a 6-speed manual????

It's all in the cost, gearing, and application. Just because there are more gears doesn't automatically make the transmission better. Case in point: C5 Corvette 6-speed has a 1st to 3rd (or was that 4th) gear lock-out during low load applications in order to increase fuel economy. Performace drivers have been known to complain that 1st gear in some 6-speed cars were too short and the higher gears would put the car out of certain power ranges during shifting. Of course this is not always the case and usually only affects those who are more performance oriented.

Me, I just wish Nissan sold the Murano with a 5- or 6-speed manual.

 

[Nizmo]

RE:transmission

My vote is for CVT too!


Nizmo