mike1948

OK I'm completely new to CVTs. I only have 160 miles on mine. If I accelerate at what I would call a mildly crisp rate the car will take off, the engine goes to about 4000 rpms, then (shift?) drop back to about 3000 go back up to 4000 etc etc. Is this normal or should it go to around 3500-4000 and stay there with a steady increase in speed. It almost feels like a conventional 4 automatic that is shifting gears.

TIA
Mike

criminaltc

That's the beauty of it, that you don't have to worry about it. Just drive it. It technically shouldn't feel like shifting. Maybe ask the Scion guys in the service department. I don't drive garbage automatics. They are too stupid and never know what they are doing. It's always better to control your gearing. But yeah, ask Scion if you are worried about. Or maybe there's an iQ guy on here who will see this.

amadcow2

Depends on your definition of 'Normal'

The RPM drop-off is totally manufactured to give you the illusion of a gear shift. It actually reduces performance in our iQs and should be reprogrammed to basically reflect what a CVT does, give a smooth transition through all acceleration ranges.

The question that I have for the folks at Scion is: 'Why? Can you just re-flash my car to eliminate this artificial drop in performance through an arbitrary and imagined gear range?

mike1948

I don't really care the the "shift" feel also. I would rather have the "smooth" increase in speed.

Mike