CVT Issues?

5116 Views 11 Replies 9 Participants Last post by securityguy, Nov 30, 2018

feathers161

Discussion Starter · Nov 27, 2018

I am currently driving a 2014 Nissan Rogue. Just under 60,000 miles, the CVT went out. It was re-built at a dealer but I am shopping for a new car after seeing Rogues with their third or fourth transmission after only a short period of time.

I thought I was sold on the 2019 Forester since Subaru is known for reliability. However, as I research the cars, I am seeing that some Foresters have had CVT issues. It is great that Subaru extended the warranty on some, but there is no guarantee that they would do it for the 2019s. I am sure that the Forester CVT will be better than my Nissan's, but still, I would like to make it to 80k miles on my next car with minimal issues. I am between the Forester and the RAV4. The 2019 RAV4 trim level I'm considering does not have a CVT. That being said, I feel like the RAV4 interior is kind of lacking in comparison to the Subaru.

Any thoughts? Someone make me feel better about this! :wink2:

Save

1 - 12 of 12 Posts

rdclark

· #2 · Nov 27, 2018

The largest database of reliability information on cars available to the public is from Consumer Reports, which gathers comprehensive feedback on over a half million vehicles annually.

It shows the Forester's transmission to be better or much better than average (4 or 5 out of 5 points on their rating scale) for each of the last ten model years. This data does include the relatively few manual transmissions sold, but the vast majority will have been CVTs.

Save

Reactions: 3

ursharkfuel

· #3 · Nov 28, 2018

feathers161 said:
I am currently driving a 2014 Nissan Rogue. Just under 60,000 miles, the CVT went out. It was re-built at a dealer but I am shopping for a new car after seeing Rogues with their third or fourth transmission after only a short period of time.

I thought I was sold on the 2019 Forester since Subaru is known for reliability. However, as I research the cars, I am seeing that some Foresters have had CVT issues. It is great that Subaru extended the warranty on some, but there is no guarantee that they would do it for the 2019s.

This one hit home for me.

My wife just returned a leased a 2016 Hyundai Elantra and we purchased a 2018 Nissan Rogue - for HER. We got tired of riding with our butts dragging on the ground when we use her car. And I am not worried in the least about the CVT because she drives so few miles that the car will be under the manufacturers warranty until we replace it. But I hear you loud and clear on Nissan. They have had an assortment of issues in the past and have not always handled them well.

In the case of the Subaru, I owned a 2016 Outback Limited that fell into the CVT warranty extension program, I put a ton of miles on it commuting, and it had started leaking at 79K miles. So I traded it in on a 2019 Forester Limited. Now a few observations:

1) My father owned a GM dealership in my younger years. They sold me a new 79 Malibu that had chronic transmission issues (the famous 200 metric unit transmission) that we had repaired TWICE under the 12 month /12,000 mile warranty (LOL those were the days), and it needed a THIRD repair at 13,000 miles - GM would do absolutely nothing for me or my father the dealer that sold it to me because the warranty had expired and there were no lemon laws in those days. And I was an "insider" and part of the GM family. You can imagine how happy that made my father and I. Flash forward to 2018 - And you could have knocked me over with a feather when Subaru out of the blue sent me a letter extending my 60/60,000 warranty to 10/100,000 for F-R-E-E. That was quite a gesture on their part, and something that only reinforces my loyalty to Subaru.

2) The dealer broke their back to make me a very good deal on my new Forester because they felt responsibly for the transmission issue with the car they sold me that was not even 3 years old.

3) Subaru voluntarily acknowledged the issue, and took action. GM ran from the issue with my 79 Malibu and many years later reached out to me after they settled a class action suit brought by owners of 200 Metric unit equipped vehicles. Long after I needed their help.

That being said, I would press forward with your Subaru purchase. They are one of the more ethical car companies in my experience - and I learned to drive on a car lot! But that's only my two cents and all situations are not the same.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 3

ForesterBill

· #4 · Nov 28, 2018

rdclark said:
The largest database of reliability information on cars available to the public is from Consumer Reports, which gathers comprehensive feedback on over a half million vehicles annually.

It shows the Forester's transmission to be better or much better than average (4 or 5 out of 5 points on their rating scale) for each of the last ten model years. This data does include the relatively few manual transmissions sold, but the vast majority will have been CVTs.

For the CVT model years (2014-2017) Consumer Reports data indicates that the Forester's transmission is "much better than average" which is the highest score.

Save

Reactions: 1

FozzieBalou

· #5 · Nov 28, 2018

I have a 2014 Forester 2.5 I Limited with a CVT. Mind you in the 5 years I've owned the foz, I've only put about 37,000 miles on my Forester.

When I was doing my purchase back in 2013, I looked at almost every other small or compact SUV that could be considered a rival to the Forester. This included the Rogue, the RAV4, the Jeep Patriot and Compass twins and so many more.

I was impressed with the way the CVT operates in the Forester as opposed to the Jeep and Nissan. I have not had a single problem with my CVT but I'm also a low-mileage example.

If you want to know of transmission problems, try being the owner of a late 80s to mid 90s front wheel drive Chrysler product with the V6 Motors. Chrysler brought out the then-new a604 ultradrive automatic transaxle. It was a 4-speed all-electronic transaxle with only two physical gears. It had second gear and reverse. Everything else was handled by the hydraulic fluid and the band's.

We had to 1994 Chrysler Town & Country minivans - 1 front-wheel drive, one all wheel drive. The all-wheel drive was traded away a few years ago but had over a hundred and forty thousand miles on it and only one transmission repair. The front wheel drive one, which is still in the family, has just about a hundred and twenty thousand miles on it but has had at least two full transmission Replacements and three rebuilds. All were covered under warranty.

With the front wheel drive, it was actually found that the culprit was an incorrectly installed motor mount that had the engine ever so slightly Twisted causing excessive wear on the transmission.

With the hundreds of thousands of Foresters and Outbacks, the Legacys and Imprezas, and the Crosstreks that have the CVT transmission, there would be far more problems if it was a major issue with the transmission itself. The Subaru CVT transmission has proven to be a fairly reliable transmission for the many owners with no problems, as opposed to a faulty transmission for the much smaller percentage of owners that have had problems.

Could you be one of the ones that gets a bad unit? Sure just like you can be one of the ones that has a faulty AC compressor or a bad radio head unit or any other single part that could be problematic with any single vehicle. On the whole you should be fine.

See less See more

Save

Reactions: 2

eelnod

· #6 · Nov 28, 2018

I had always been a Honda owner and never had a problem with my Hondas over the past 40 years of owning many models usually over 10 years each. They were all manual transmissions though. Then I bought the 2017 Subaru XT and had for the 1st time a transmission leak though covered by warranty. There are other issues that the dealer still has not resolved and I will need to bring the car back. Overall, being a DIYer, I find the dealer rep not well informed, nor knowledgeable, but that probably goes for most other car dealers. I was unable to talk to the mechanic directly as the service rep was always the main contact. Jury is still out regarding the Subaru reliability as far as I concern. The upcoming Honda Passport looks promising though.

Save

OriginalTwoTone

· #7 · Nov 28, 2018

eelnod said:
I had always been a Honda owner and never had a problem with my Hondas over the past 40 years of owning many models usually over 10 years each. They were all manual transmissions though. Then I bought the 2017 Subaru XT and had for the 1st time a transmission leak though covered by warranty. There are other issues that the dealer still has not resolved and I will need to bring the car back. Overall, being a DIYer, I find the dealer rep not well informed, nor knowledgeable, but that probably goes for most other car dealers. I was unable to talk to the mechanic directly as the service rep was always the main contact. Jury is still out regarding the Subaru reliability as far as I concern. The upcoming Honda Passport looks promising though.

Go to the New Pilot forum and read about that engineering marvel of a transmission they put in it.:thumbsup:

Save

eelnod

· #8 · Nov 28, 2018

OriginalTwoTone said:
Go to the New Pilot forum and read about that engineering marvel of a transmission they put in it.:thumbsup:

Honda automatic transmissions have always been the weakest link. I wonder overall which is worse: Honda auto trans for V6 vs Forster CVTs.

Save

feathers161

Discussion Starter · #9 · Nov 29, 2018

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm going for it and will be placing an order for the 2019 Forester Premium tomorrow. Now that my mind is made up, I am so thrilled! I'm getting the All Weather Package with the Push Button Start. Am I correct seeing that remote start will come with it then? If so, this is even more exciting. I've never had remote start (or heated seats, for that matter). I can't wait!

Save

Reactions: 1

gaolaowai

· #10 · Nov 29, 2018

feathers161 said:
Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm going for it and will be placing an order for the 2019 Forester Premium tomorrow. Now that my mind is made up, I am so thrilled! I'm getting the All Weather Package with the Push Button Start. Am I correct seeing that remote start will come with it then? If so, this is even more exciting. I've never had remote start (or heated seats, for that matter). I can't wait!

Push button start simply means you can leave the key in your pocket and push the on/off button to start up the car instead of actually putting the key in and turning it. Not the same as remote start. For that you would either have to have a system installed by your Subaru dealer or go for a third party system, or else sign up for the Starlink Security package which allows you to control remote start via your cell phone. You can find other threads discussing that elsewhere on the forum.

Save

feathers161

Discussion Starter · #11 · Nov 29, 2018

gaolaowai said:
Push button start simply means you can leave the key in your pocket and push the on/off button to start up the car instead of actually putting the key in and turning it. Not the same as remote start. For that you would either have to have a system installed by your Subaru dealer or go for a third party system, or else sign up for the Starlink Security package which allows you to control remote start via your cell phone. You can find other threads discussing that elsewhere on the forum.

Got it. I will be getting the push button start for sure because I added that package. Sounds like I would need to sign up for the Starlink and not sure I'll do that. I've lived without remote start for this long, I think I should be able to survive! Thanks!

Save

securityguy

· #12 · Nov 30, 2018

feathers161 said:
Got it. I will be getting the push button start for sure because I added that package. Sounds like I would need to sign up for the Starlink and not sure I'll do that. I've lived without remote start for this long, I think I should be able to survive! Thanks!

If you can get it for $75 for three years you'll sign up:wink2:

Save

1 - 12 of 12 Posts

Top Contributors this Month