2019 Nissan Pathfinder: Are CVT Transmissions REALLY that bad?

As a car enthusiast, I have been saying for years how much I absolutely hate CVT transmissions. Continuously variable transmissions are increasingly common in modern vehicles due to the benefits in fuel economy. However, they are unreliable, they diminish any sort of fun from a driving experience, and cost more to maintain than a regular automatic transmission. My opinion mostly came from the lack of real gears that creates a loud and dull exhaust note upon acceleration. Most folks might not care about this, or even notice, but as someone who enjoys the experience driving anywhere and anything, this was a big deal to see more and more of these on the road.

Last week, I had the opportunity to rent a Nissan Pathfinder with a CVT to see if the driving experience had improved since the last vehicle I had driven with one of these transmissions. My previous CVT test drives had always been in smaller cars with the same experience each time: upon hard acceleration, the tachometer would scream to 5,000 RPM and stay there until I had achieved the desired speed. Terrible. Because of this exact experience, our last new car purchase was a 2017 Mazda 3 Grand Touring instead of a Honda Civic Sport Turbo because the Mazda uses a traditional 6-speed automatic.

It had also been along time since I had driven in modern Nissan product outside of the Nissan Leaf one of my siblings had here at our house for several months. When our local rental agency asked if I wanted to take my trip in a Dodge RAM or in the Pathfinder, I jumped at the opportunity to review a modern CVT.

So did I hate the CVT once again? Well, no. Surprisingly, it really was not that bad. But, I still wouldn’t buy one. I admit that I generally do not like family SUVs either – although this Pathfinder was really a nice road trip vehicle. There were a LOT of really nice features generally seen on higher-end vehicles such as a 360 camera, heated steering wheel and heated rear seats. However, it lacked any sort of lane keep assist and Apple CarPlay. The layout of the radio and climate controls were also not intuitive whatsoever, and third row has difficult to access. With the CVT paired to the powerful V6 and a quiet cabin, I hardly noticed any sort of drone or oddities of a non-transitional transmission setup. I drove in the city, on the highway, and in traffic, and was overall quite surprised with how the vehicle performed. Well above my expectations.

All in all, I think the Pathfinder still has good value if you’re looking for an inexpensive modern SUV with some nice touches. The CVT wasn’t nearly as bad as I would have expected, but I still would not buy one. In my family, we drive cars forever, and the durability and longevity of these transmissions are far too below expectations (many report failures around 100k miles). If you find yourself looking to purchase a vehicle with a CVT, find one with very low miles, maintenance records of transmission fluid changes, or buy one with an extended warranty.