Datsun Added CVT To The Go And GO+
New technology always has its detractors, until it is generally accepted. When the iPhone came out, Blackberry went: “But where are the buttons? You don’t know which side is up! It will never sell.”
Same with CVT: “It does not give you the feel of the car. You cannot ride the gears! It will never sell.”
Both iPhone and CVT sell and sell well. They both took things you do every day and made it easier. When Datsun introduced CVT in its GO and GO+ models at the end of last year, it found immediate favour among those in the market for a car such as the Datsun Go.
But what is CVT and who are these people who would enjoy this feature in a Datsun Go?
There used to be two main kinds of transmission (with variations in each). The first is a manual transmission, where the driver has to push in the clutch pedal and manually change the gear using the lever. The automatic transmission does not have a clutch pedal, but it has a fixed number of gears. So the driver puts the car in “drive” and the car automatically changes to the correct gear, depending on speed and load. You would hear the revs go up and feel the gears change as you drive.
CVT is a Continuous Variable Transmission. Instead of all the gears and cogs and things that grind, CVT uses two adjustable conical pulleys connected by a steel chain or belt. Depending on the vehicle’s speed, the sides of each pulley moves toward or away from each other, varying the drive ratio. In simple terms, CVT always keeps your engine’s speed square while keeping the car in the optimal power band. There is none of the gas-guzzling revs going from zero – redline and back again. CVT has no gears, but it has infinite gear ratios. It is slick and smooth, ideal if you want to go from A – B with minimal hassle and optimum efficiency.
It gives optimal efficiency because it revs only as high as it should, it weighs substantially less than a normal gearbox (none of those heavy gears and shafts and things) and lighter uses less fuel. Another way it saves fuel is because it does not shift gears. You will be surprised by how much fuel is wasted in that split second when one gear has to disengage and the next has to engage.
CVT is still a new technology and so far it is not quite up to high-power and -torque drivetrains, so you won’t fit one on a 3-litre V6 turbodiesel. But put it in a smaller car with a smaller engine, even one with as much zip as the Datsun Go, and you have a perfect blend of effortless power and fuel economy, no matter how fast or slow you drive.
So who is buying the Datsun Go CVT? The Datsun Go is super affordable and offers safety and luxury features beyond its size and price, so the CVT appeals to students who just started to drive. It appeals to older people who don’t want to pay for the hassle of gears. Not surprisingly, it appeals to drivers across the board that have to spend a lot of time in peak traffic. CVT takes the thing you have to do every day and makes it easy.
Still not sure of the CVT? We are. Why don’t you book your test drive of the CVT Datsun GO or GO+ today?
Tags: Datsun
