Noticed the Nissan Maxima Shift 2.0 commercial last night.... they claim "no shift shock" as in you wont even feel when the automatic shift takes place. Then i tried to accelerate with my ES this morning and sure enough you can feel when the gear shifts at 3000 rpm. Not too drastic, but definitely noticeable. Why cant a Lexus have shift-shock-free shifting????

 

are they talking about the manual mode (tiptronic)? if so, i cant speak on the ES350's system but generally Lexus' shifting is among the smoothest on the market.

 

Only reason you dont feel a shift shock in the new Maxima is because of the CVT-i (Continuously Variable Transmission Intelligent) and from what I've heard, it sacrifices some amount of HP. Correct me if I'm wrong about anything please since im only 16 :-x

 

My 1950 Buick had a very similar system called Dynaflow. It was nice, but my no means was considered an efficient type of transmission. I might add that when this type of transmission was offered the price of gasoline was under 25 cents a gallon.

 

correct & from what I heard on TV not proven in autos over the long haul

 

That's because the new Maxima has a CVT (cone & belt type). It has no gears and an infinite amount of gear ratios.

mwike, maybe the old ones but the new ones should be more durable. The 2003 Murano has a CVT and so does the Civic (HX?) and a 2001 Audi A4 Multitronic. (FWD). The new MINI has a CVT option for 2004 or 2005.

 

I actually test drove a new 2007 Maxima sl last night for the fun of it.
I can tell you that the new transmission is VERY smooth i was impressed.

I was quite dissapointed in the SL suspension though, there was a time when it was still on the luxury side but it feels just like and SE now more sport tuned than anything.

A decent car for the money but for a little less i would choose and Acura TL if i wanted to stay in that price range.

 

I wonder if Thaishark was also not impressed by the quality of the materials in the latest Nissan . I was considering the 2006 Maxima as a replacement to my 1997 Maxima GLE. The GLE was a good car and served me well for almost 130,000 miles. I drove the 06 Maxima and was happy to get back in my 97 Maxima. The only car that made me salivate when I got back in the Maxima was the ES350.

I also heard that the Nissans with CVT sound like sewing machines. This was said about the Murano and not the Maxima.

 

I would think a car like the ES350..lauded for its smoothness would be perfect for CVT.

I do believe Toyota is developing and testing CVT for its cars im sure it will eventually come out for lexus also.

CVT is new technology and cannot handle high power just yet. 255 on the Maxima is really nice.

I believe Nissans has the highest hp for CVT.

The Audi CVT does only 200hp.

Trust me it is REALLY smooth, driving a CVT and going back to a regular auto is horrible. The downshifting and upshifting jerking getts ennoying.

CVT is also faster than a manual cuz shift time is totally eliminated. Also its a significantly more fuel efficient than a auto, b/c RPM's are more stable.

I have experince on the Murano CVT, its a sport tuned SUV so the exhuast sounds pretty nice, but it is a HEAVY SUV so its not all too fast.

When you floor a CVT, the RPMs are pegged to the rev limiter and stays there untill you take ur foot off the pedal. No shifting, no jerking. Just a watch the speed fly as RPMs stay pegged.

There is no downhsifting, take ur foot off the pedal and RPM decreases..no shifting at all.

the LS may have 8 gears, but CVT has infinite

As CVT tech advances you will start to see it on a wide range of uses for it.

It is not yet advanced enough for high preformance use. (Thus why no new Infiniti models have CVT).

 

Yeah, that's the thing. People hate CVTs because it doesn't give them the "surge" that regular transmissions do. Oddly enough, the surge is a "flaw" of a regular transmission (I suppose, similar to how creeping is on an automatic transmission).

It's fun to see people drive beside me, then fall back when they shift... it's usually the manual drivers since the new automatics shift fairly quickly and the manual drivers here aren't racing drivers, just regular folks.

The thing I like about CVTs is that you get power, instantly. No need to wait for the transmission to spin the engine into the power band, then lose it and having to shift to return to the band. Just punch the accelerator and let the engine rev up.

 

I always get a good laugh when someone says CVT are not meant for high performance, the GS450h and RX400h have CVT as well as the Toyota Hybrids, I wonder if the LS 600h will get a CVT.

 

Well, why the h*ll didn't they put it in the ES350?? I'm not thrilled with the transmisson in this car. The downshifting, especially, is very annoying!

 

Sorry, I definitely don't agree with you. I traded in my 2003 ES with only 16K miles all because of a transmission that I considered really terrible. This I noticed from the day I drove off this car from the dealer. I had all the CPU upgrades that Lexus offered, but they didn't help, as far as I was concerned.
There is definitely NO comparison to the new transmission in my ES350. Smooth responsive shifting, perfect shifting speeds, excellent downshifts when needed.....you name it and the car responds exactly what I wanted a transmission to do! I LOVE this tranny! Maybe you should bring your car into a Lexus dealer to see if you have something wrong with your tranny?

 

While I generally agree with you I must say that the tranny does act a little weird when decelerating fromabout 25mph. It seems to downshift to a lower gear (1st or 2nd) prematurely causing the car to feel that it's being held back by the engine (this is not at all unlike the feeling of holding the engine in a given gear when you're going down a long decline like coming down a mountain). After about 4-5 seconds of this it seems to "realize" it's in a too low gear and it shifts up to the next gear allowing the car to roll along more easily. It's not a big deal and doesn't really affect the drivability of the car.

And, as you say, the difference in the positively awful tranny they put in the '02 ES and this is like night and day. I'm still almost in shock at the power available from this drivetrain and the astounding mpg it's capable of.

Simply amazing!

 

This quirk, if you want to call it that, was brought up before in the older ES's, from '02 thru '06, and from what Lexus says, it was designed to respond exactly in this fashion. Actually, I can deal with this slight downshifting in the new transmission because I'm used to it and it doesn't bother me one bit.