Glossary / General

CVTs

9 Episode Mentions

Too Afraid to Ask

CVT means “continuously variable transmission.” It’s a type of gearbox that doesn’t shift like a normal automatic—it uses a system that can smoothly change the gear ratio.

Technical Definition

CVT stands for continuously variable transmission. Unlike a traditional stepped automatic, it uses a belt/chain and pulleys to keep the engine in a more efficient RPM range, which changes how maintenance and wear patterns show up over time.

Hear It Discussed

"the 15,000 miles of the bad trends, but I've also had them 78 years old with the CVTs [2526.1s] with 250 and they were fine."
Car Repair Advice Live Over The Air You Can Call Us and Ask Questions Under The Hood show 41:59

"Hyundai's done a great job of avoiding CVTs in a lot of vehicles, so I'm very happy to see that continue."
2026 Hyundai Tucson XRT: Surfing the ‘Soft-Roading’ Wave America on the Road 22:04

"The early CVTs were fixable, but often by now they're too old to be serviced and use the right fluid and they shudder and they..."
Scotty's dilemma and Car of the week! Car Torque with Matty J 19:28