Future Aveo to have 6 spd auto trans

[hammsaveo]

what about a cvt? good or bad idea? reliable ? lots of cars have them now but doesn't make it good

[reddemonx92]

Just a question but is a 6 speed auto tranny even needed on a 1.4L engine that is coming in the new aveo? It would be pretty nice though to have a 6speed tranny

[ontarian_frog]

what about a cvt? good or bad idea? reliable ? lots of cars have them now but doesn't make it good

CVTs are great. You can basically make the engine run in the best possible rpm for fuel efficiency...then if you floor it, you can get better torque multiplication than a traditional torque converter.

For example, the CVT in a ski-doo has a range of 8:1, all the way to .8:1. Whereas a car normally has 3:1 to .8:1. Unfortunately, in theory, they can be the most efficient transmission, but in practice, they aren't.

[MetroMPG]

It's "needed" if GM wants to appear competitive with the other manufacturers that are going with 6-speeds.

Technically you could gear a 5-speed to give you good acceleration in 1-4 and then good cruising fuel economy in 5th, but most drivers wouldn't like the tall "jump" up to 5th. And most people are too brain dead to downshift from top gear when they need acceleration (which is why they give us so many cars spinning at ridiculous RPM cruising in top gear).

The extra 6th makes it more consumer friendly.

I just hope GM doesn't go the way Ford is with the new Fiesta: the six-speed automatic is geared to get better economy than the manual.