In the history of automotive transmissions, the CVT undoubtedly ranks near the bottom of the pile, as one of the car world’s poorly thought out inventions.
The CVT offers the worst of all worlds, combining the worst parts of an automatic with the efficiency of a manual. It makes you feel like you’re driving something with an outboard motor, thanks to its ability to hold a constant rpm, but somehow it has survived and is still offered by many companies today.
Now we have word that GM may offer the CVT on upcoming versions of the Chevrolet Cruze, Spark and Aveo, thanks to the fact that it will bump up fuel economy by roughly 10 percent. GM needs to increase mileage by this amount for the next model cycle, and this is simply the most expedient route. Most consumers may not even notice, but color us ticked off.
[Source: Automotive News]