I have had the CVT in both my altimas. They work extremely well. I like them. Power is seamless and op is right about terrible lag if not used properly. Sometimes you try to change gears for aggressive accel and nothing happens. That's a downfall because the computer must be able to predict your desires on the fly. And it always doesn't know what you want. With CVT you are either driving docile or aggressive. When you switch styles it gets confused. This is the downfall.
CVT has gotten a bad rap but Nissan has done with CVT that others can't. But at the end of the day Nissan has done more with the 5 and 7AT's. They are still more responsive, feel like true manuals without a clutch and the only thing that let's you know that its an auto aside from no clutch is a little bit of torque converter drone depending on you you accel and change gears.
Under normal driving conditions its extremely hard to tell the difference between the 2. Drive aggressive and you can tell. Its not that CVT is bad. Its actually a great tranny. Its just the7at is outstandingly brilliant in a sports car where the CVT has a couple weaknesses.
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