CVT transmissions with torque converters

Recently I had a chance to test drive 3 cars back to back, Subaru XV, Honda HR-V and the Mazda 3. The first two are equipped with a modern CVT transmission with a torque converter. The early generation CVT transmissions all felt like rubber bands to drive. The addition of the torque converter was to eliminate or reduce the rubber band like effect which annoyed many drivers. I personally hate the hell out of CVT transmissions since I could never accept how the power was delivered and when you wanted power it was never there!
Having spoken to a very convincing Subaru salesman I decided to see if he was talking hot air or Subaru really made some improvement to the age old CVT transmission. The Subaru XV is a decent car overall since it mixed the SUV ride height (slightly lower than typical SUVs) with a sedan type handling. The car was miserable from the inside since the interior's design is so old and so out dated! it is was time Subaru fired the designer who was responsible for designing the interior. The interior's design looked so dated and unfitting for a car of this current generation. Nevertheless the interior was not of my concern, I was more worried about how the car would drive. Taking it out for a spin on a busy city streets the car seem smooth as expected since that is what the CVT transmission is good for. The problem only came when I decided to see how well the transmission will react to my heavy right foot input. The initial get go was decent with the car showing good response but thats where it all ended too! When I had my foot at half throttle the car was moving along nicely, but when I full throttled the car, it made no difference in acceleration initially and it kind of paused for a second before the torque and horsepower came into play. This is seriously not confidence inspiring! if you were in a situation where you had to overtake a truck you would have to plan really far ahead to take into consideration the lag or the empty spot where the power should be! This car is ONLY suited for city driving. You can drive in comfortably on the highway at cruising speeds and I believe the fuel economy will be good but I wouldn't want to try to overtake anything since any heavy right foot inputs will make you frustrated!

Next came the Honda HR-V, this is Honda's baby SUV which is selling like crazy! over 7,000 bookings in the first month alone!! this must be a new record for Honda. It is an incredible feat to garner so many bookings in the first month alone. Yes, Malaysians are suckers for new car models and when any new car models are launched car crazy Malaysians will jump at it and buy it as if their life depended on it. To Honda's credit, the HR-V is a decent looking car and has a nice modern interior with many new gizmos to create even better value. Having a 1.8 litre engine sourced from the Civic you know the car should be decent. The only thing is that this car also comes with a CVT transmission! As it is designed to be a city car the CVT transmission again is there to serve its purpose. During the test drive the city driving environment is where this car performs best. The CVT transmission was responsive at low speeds but once I decided to again stomp the throttle the engine would screams its lungs off and viola.... nothing happens! the car does not accelerate like it should. The damn CVT transmission masks the acceleration and the engine revs to 4000rpm and stays there. The engine is loud but I don't feel any acceleration! the rubber band effect is back when you ease off a little to allow the car to so called change gears (CVT transmission doesn't change gears! it has one gear with infinite ratios). I believe it would be very frustrating to drive on the B roads when you want to push the car a bit harder. As a car on its own, it is a very decent car for its price and good for city driving. Do not even once start to think that this car will be happy going up to Genting Highlands.

The last car is the Mazda 3. This car is equipped with the regular 6 speed automatic. The car's interior is definitely nicely designed and is similar to a European designed car. The interior is modern, sporty and also has many bells and whistles. The car does have a more expensive feel to it since the design itself is not Japanese looking. Zoom-zoom theme is carried forward to this model. On the car the car feels firm and more zippy. Naturally the handling would be different since it is not a SUV. It is a sedan car with sporty nature. The car's engine and transmission is responsive and was very predictable in its power delivery. There are some small flat spots at some points along the RPM but the car was able to perform as you would expect meaning stomp on the throttle the transmission will kick down a gear and accelerate hard or be light on the throttle and it will stay in a higher gear to save fuel. I am glad that out of all the Japanese car makers, Mazda decided to stick to the conventional automatic rather than the dreaded CVT. Nearly all Japanese car companies are using CVT as they want to achieve better fuel economy but it just removes the joy in driving the car.

implementation of GST and its impact on the Malaysian automotive industry

From 1 April 2015 GST will be implemented in Malaysia for the very first time. The 6% GST has created enough problems for all industries including the automotive industry. there has been various discussions about how it will affect the final price of the cars. The original sales tax of 10% will be removed and the 6% GST will replace it, this naturally created the impression that there will be nett discount since there is 4% less tax to pay. However this is not quite true since GST is charged at every level of the sales chain and this could potentially lead to high final price.

The original sales tax of 10% is charged upon importation (for imported cars) but GST is charged at the point of import, plus when the distributor sells the cars to dealers and when dealers sell the cars to customers. The nett effect could see the final price go up by 1-2% depending on the situation. This naturally does not bode well for customers since everything has gone up in price recently ranging from food to basic supplies.

Then there are also cases where some car dealers will use this opportunity to mark up prices a little more to make more money in the name of GST implementation. The problem is the prices between layers are not transparent and no one knows if there is any sort of profiteering involved. The Malaysian Govt should take actions to check and investigate car dealers and determine if there are any profiteering involved and if there are such cases a suitable punishment or penalty should be imposed.

how the automotive industry will shape up after the introduction of GST will be a hot topic for many months to come.