I've had zero complaints about the CVT in the GS450h. The other day I went and drove a Infiniti Q50s hybrid along with a couple of others and was annoyed with the shifting of the gears. At this point I'd prefer a CVT. From everything I've read, this makes me in the tiny tiny minority?

I don't get the hate.

 

CVT is best for driving! Smoother, faster, a lot nicer to drive imo. But for long term the system is not as reliable as standard gears. This is my experience with Audi CVT because we had one that failed at 50k miles.

 

I think the key word in your post regarding reliability is Audi and not CVT.

 

what is cvt

 

I too love the Continuously Variable Transmission in the GS450h. I believe that the gs450h uses a planetary gear cvt vs belt driven cvt's in other makes.

It's just far different compared to a conventional transmission. Not having gears shifting at first was odd, but as the year has progressed I also find myself preferring the cvt to a conventional transmission.

I have come to a point to understand that the "hate" for the cvt is due to poor experience with one, or simply no knowledge of it at all. I have driven some horrible cvt cars and I am happy to say the gs450h is not one of those. I think this is due to the planetary vs belt driven systems. I am no expert in the matter so..... So in short the hate for CVT is due to misunderstanding, or experience with a poor example.

 

I still dont think the technology is there yet. Look at infiniti and nissan! I will need to see more miles on the Lexus system before I would be sold on one.

 

I think the CVT works really well on the juke and I think its due for a tranny fluid flush haha getting kind of jerky! but before it was smooth as butter!

 

My 07 GS450h has 145k miles and shifts smoothly.