If you’ve ever driven or owned a car with a continuously variable transmission, you probably know it doesn’t exactly behave as a regular automatic.
However, generally speaking, if you do grasp the way in which traditional CVTs work, you should know what to expect and what not to expect from them.
With some scenarios, such as doing a bit of hill holding using only the throttle or inching forward, you could actually end up damaging the transmission (if it’s clutch based).
Thanks to this latest video from Engineering Explained, you should have a much better understanding regarding some basic do’s and don’ts when it comes to CVTs. On a lighter note, one of the first things you’d notice driving a regular car with this type of transmission would be the rather dreary way in which it accelerates – which also applies to the 2016 Lexus CT 200h used in the video.
In other words, don’t expect the same type of performance you get with conventional automatics.