Worst auto gearboxes on new modern cars

who is currently making the best/good/reliable CVT drive in smaller cars ?
- the idea always seems attractive, giving you some EV type driving characteristics.

(
.. a number of older relatives want automatics, but I had steered them away from them, and casual google is throwing up toyota issues,
but OK , you can always find dicussions supporting your viewpoint .
)
 
My works car is a Honda Odyssey with a CVT box - It's absolutely hateful!

I had a little 1.2L SEAT Ibiza hire car with a DCT gearbox - still hateful!

I love ZF's Torque Convertor autoboxes for commuting with their zero stress waft-ability (had 3 cars with them), however a manuals still my favourite!
 
The DSG in my 2016 Golf GT is a bit ****, if I'm perfectly honest.
I never really know quite how jerky it's going to be pulling away from a junction - very or extremely.
 
mjt said:
The DSG in my 2016 Golf GT is a bit ****, if I'm perfectly honest.
I never really know quite how jerky it's going to be pulling away from a junction - very or extremely.
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I had the same issues in a 2005 A3 DSG, good to know they've not fixed it in 11 years! Sometimes you'd roll to a stop, put your foot down to nip out and nothing would happen, quite interesting!
 
The new A series Mercedes auto box doesn't appear to know what gear it needs to be in, constantly it is hunting up and down the box, terrible. Compared to my stronic which is darned near perfect...
 
14 plate seat leon which uses a DSG box, works perfect although Im biased as its the only type of auto box I have used.

I didn't realise there was so many varients until I googled!

I know some of the honda civics use a CVT
 
Easy, the Robotic Manual (automatic) used on the FIAT 500 and that horrible small car some awful person put a Lancia badge on. It is jerky, slow and you will roll back down a slope in Drive.
 
Of all the auto box cars I've driven over the last few months the CVT in the BRZ/GT86 was probably the nicest to drive around at low speed.

After that I'd probably rate them as follows

Infiniti Q50 3.0T - Torque converter
BMW 235i/425i - Torque converter
BMW M4 - DKG/Dual Clutch
Golf R - DSG
Jetta TDI - Early DSG
Nissan GTR - Dual clutch

Both the torque converter autos drive the best at low speed, the ZF is better when making progress

, the BMW and Modern VW DSGs are quite similar to me, my Jetta feels a little less "clever" than the more modern DSG/DCTs. The GTR I find to be very clunky and jerky but that isn't a particularly fair comparison as it's a very early JDM import that generally has all sorts of chopped and changed transmission software

The Toyota/Subaru CVT would be great paired with an engine I like, but the engine note is particularly annoying when it's sat holding the engine at 4500rpm or so while accelerating
 
Yea torque converters are still best at low speed/traffic and for smoothness.

The auto GT86 isn't a CVT btw, it's a torque converter but it doesn't feel like one and is a lot more responsive than normal. I don't know what they did to it :)
 
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I find the e92 DCT can be jerky when crawling in traffic (i assume down to the clutch biting). It can make you look a bit of a learner driver. Also the software can be confused sometimes, i had changed upto 7th then wanted to go back down to 2nd to overtake, but the car didn't know what to do and seemed to take several seconds to decide. I still prefer manual, even if it is slightly slower, just seems to give more control.
 
I rented a Fiat Abarth 595 a few weeks ago which turned into this Volvo V60 because the rental company didn't even know I was coming. It was an 8 speed automatic and on the motorway it was great. It did have an enormous response time when I put my foot on the pedal from 0mph though, it was a good 1-2 second delay before the car actually moved which meant I had to "predict" when to pull out into traffic from junctions / roundabouts already pressing the pedal when there was a car in front of me. I definitely expected better from a 2019 Volvo.

IMG-20190320-142704-1.jpg
 
In terms of pure driving experience. For all the sophistication of modern transmissions. A combination of multistage torque converter coupled to a traditional epicyclic gearbox and all driven by a large capacity, low revving, high torque NA engine is hard to beat.

:cool:
 
mccarf said:
I rented a Fiat Abarth 595 a few weeks ago which turned into this Volvo V60 because the rental company didn't even know I was coming. It was an 8 speed automatic and on the motorway it was great. It did have an enormous response time when I put my foot on the pedal from 0mph though, it was a good 1-2 second delay before the car actually moved which meant I had to "predict" when to pull out into traffic from junctions / roundabouts already pressing the pedal when there was a car in front of me. I definitely expected better from a 2019 Volvo.

IMG-20190320-142704-1.jpg
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Was the fiat 595 auto? If so how was it?

I'm after a weekend car...fiat 595 is top of the list but must be auto. Haven't driven 595 yet
 
wesley said:
Was the fiat 595 auto? If so how was it?

I'm after a weekend car...fiat 595 is top of the list but must be auto. Haven't driven 595 yet
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Nah it would have been a manual. I never actually got to drive it because their computer systems had gone down and they'd rented my reservation out already. Usually they apparently provide people at the desk with the paperwork of all the incoming customers but this time they just didn't bother. Very strange disorganised service from a big international company :(. I was looking forward to driving it because I was doing a day up in North Wales during my rental period, so a diesel volvo wasn't really the experience I was looking for. Having said that, it did hang on through corners way better than it had any right to do and the brakes were extremely good. I can imagine with a manual and a more potent (petrol) engine it would be fun.
 
Frozennova said:
The GTR I find to be very clunky and jerky but that isn't a particularly fair comparison as it's a very early JDM import that generally has all sorts of chopped and changed transmission software
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Though I think it shares more underneath with the 370Z than the GTR the auto on my Navara (3L V6) is reasonably smooth and responsive - no 1-2 second lag pulling away from the lights or clunkiness. The only time I've noticed it struggling is when going up steep hills at around ~45mph or down long hills at ~30mph where it can't quite decide which gear it needs to be in if I'm trying to stick to the speed limit - fine if I go a little faster :|
 
The last gearbox that really uninspired me was a CVT in a smart. Hateful horrible thing.
My mother had a CVT in her 2015 Jazz, she hated that.

Myself and the missus tried a Civic a few years ago with an automated manual. I rather liked it, though it took a little getting used to. The missus hated it.
 
Throwing the Merc 7G gearbox in to the 'worst gearbox' bucket. Gearshifts are slow, response is slow, everything is just slow. Trying to set off smoothly is near impossible sometimes as it takes so long to respond, you end up putting more throttle on then it eventually responds and sends you off like you've put your foot to the floor. Mine is also sticking in 2nd and 3rd gears now when having a spirited run in manual mode.

CVT in my wife's Infiniti QX60 is alright, it does judder every now and again though which it's already been in to have fixed as part of a recall. They upped the warranty by another 5-7 years too so can't complain.
 
timmeh said:
Throwing the Merc 7G gearbox in to the 'worst gearbox' bucket. Gearshifts are slow, response is slow, everything is just slow. Trying to set off smoothly is near impossible sometimes as it takes so long to respond, you end up putting more throttle on then it eventually responds and sends you off like you've put your foot to the floor. Mine is also sticking in 2nd and 3rd gears now when having a spirited run in manual mode.
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Is that something with a big diesel engine? I've found in a lot of vehicles they don't like running from cold - once warmed up or used more regularly on longer runs respond much better.
 
Rroff said:
Is that something with a big diesel engine? I've found in a lot of vehicles they don't like running from cold - once warmed up or used more regularly on longer runs respond much better.
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No, it's a V8 petrol. It does it all the time, maybe it needs to go to Merc.
 
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