Plan B Forum

For only the 2nd time in my life I now own a car that's less than 10 years old. My 1991 Pathfinder, which has provided yeoman service over the last 10 1/2 years, is showing extreme signs of impending failure (along with needing a LOT of major and minor work). Work I couldn't do without another reliable commuter car. I'll still keep it for snow duty but I do need to find out if the worsening misfire is actually mechanical, as it has 358,000+ miles on it and these weren't known for exceeding 250,000 all that often. It may be related to an electrical issue that causes it to lose 2 cylinders occasionally by not firing those 2 injectors. Not a good thing.

Now I own a 2016 Nissan Versa. An absolutely bare bones car. No frills... well, it has A/C so that's something. But it's the kind of car that simply doesn't exist in today's new car market: Manual windows, Manual door locks, Manual Transmission, no heated seats, no "infotainment" system, no backup cameras or blind spot warning devices. It does have the mandatory for the year safety stuff- side air bags, TPMS sensors, traction control (was that required? It has it, in any case) and I guess it has one frill in that it apparently has bluetooth phone ability. I don't think it even has cruise control. No USB ports. No center arm rest. Steel wheels with plastic hubcaps. It's base as it can be.

But, it was (relatively) cheap, only has 72,000 miles on it (for a 9 year old car that's low) but it has a lot of the typical scratches and dings. The dealer ended up putting 4 new tires on it AFTER the price was settled, so there's that (the TPMS light was on when I test drove it, one tire was definitely squishy and the rear tires were at the legal tread limit). But it drives OK, gets over 35MPG (the trip tracker for the 36 mile drive home said it averaged 42, but it was almost all highway), does NOT have that horrific CVT disaster (since it's a 5-speed manual). It's like driving a sardine can (in fact, it's gunmetal gray so it kinda looks like a sardine can) , but it's meant for commuting.

I did have one little scare driving it home- the fuel level indicator never changed in the 36 miles home, and more worrying the range meter which said I had 186 miles range went down to... 182 miles after the trip. So I filled it up and only got 5 gallons into it (now it says 368 miles range) so I guess that works.

Sometimes we have to move on.

Good thinking on not buying one with a CVT. I've yet to see a Nissan Sentra or Altima CVT outlast the rest of the car unless the fluid was changed every 30,000 miles or so. When the CVT dies, out of warranty, the car may be eight or ten tears old. A $3000 transmission is not economically feasible.

I have a seven year old Toyota Corolla with 70K on the odometer and the CVT tranny. The manual says leave the sealed tranny alone for at least 100K.
I must drive gently, because it is only in the last six months that I have had to service the brakes. Most of it is in city driving. So am I pushing my luck and it's past time to get something else?

snailgate.

Burning Petard wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 10, 2025 9:10 pm

I have a seven year old Toyota Corolla with 70K on the odometer and the CVT tranny.
snailgate.

Yes, but he bought a Nissan. Their CVTs have a very bad reputation. Not just bad, very bad. I know of at least half a dozen that have bitten the dust under 100K. Toyota seems to have figured CVTs out.

MGMcAnick wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 16, 2025 3:34 am

Burning Petard wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 10, 2025 9:10 pm

I have a seven year old Toyota Corolla with 70K on the odometer and the CVT tranny.
snailgate.

Yes, but he bought a Nissan. Their CVTs have a very bad reputation. Not just bad, very bad. I know of at least half a dozen that have bitten the dust under 100K. Toyota seems to have figured CVTs out.

I have been anxious since your prior post and am grateful to read this post this morning - just turned over 1k on my new Toyota CVT.

I find it interesting to drive - I no longer do 'aggressive driving,' so for me the CVT is a beautiful thing and I am crazy about the fuel economy I am getting with my hatch set to ECO drive. I hope my CVT will be operating happily for a very long time to come.

CVTs are newer tech early ones seemed to have durability issues but I haven’t heard much about issues with newer ones

I wish you good luck with your CVTs--it seems to be the way things are going, and I know many who are happy with them. Personally, for better mileage I'd rather drive a manual (clutch) transmission, but they are becoming few and far between, even among sportier cars (my last clutch car was about 10 years ago).

Yes, I looked into a manual transmission. To get one from Toyota I would have had to spend many thousands more than I did for the Corolla hatch I bought. Mine was $26k with a bunch of options, the base price for the GR Corolla with manual transmission is $38k and most of the available models in showrooms around here were close to $10k more - $48k for a Corolla hatch is nuts, no matter how many bells/whistles. They also list with 21/28mpg, while my CVT hatchback is reliably getting better than the 32/41mpg listed by the manufacturer - when I don't sit at idle for any length of time, I am getting ~36mpg in my daily suburban commute ranging from 25-50mph over 10 miles of country roads.

I also have no idea what 'intelligent design' manual transmission is compared to the old manuals I was used to in my youth - I had regular manual on my VW Rabbit GTI and on my Mazda 626 and got good gas mileage as I recall. Other than being clutch-less, I have no idea what makes the intelligent design different or less fuel efficient. But in my Mazda I regularly got in the low 30s for mpg so it beats the GR Corolla out of the water.

In 1956 I was working part time in a print shop in Kansas City which printed the 'confidential' price lists for new GM car dealers. I saw the one for Buicks as it was being proofed. The Auto tranny was $300 over the manual. But with a foot note. To get the manual transmission there would be a three month wait.

snailgate.

I've been averaging 39.5 mpg with the Versa so far. My commute is 27 miles each way, almost split equally between a 60mph freeway (that goes up and over a 300ft ridge separating river valleys) and 35mph "highway" with stoplights.

Not sure I'd like a clutchless manual transmission; it sounds a lot like the paddle shifters available on some cars--I believe I can shift my car into a mode where I just press the gearshift level up or down. Might as well let the automatic transmission shift it as well--no fun in that. I recall VW and REnault having what was called a semi-automatic (clutchless) transmission in the 60s and 70s--I imagine this is different, but not sure how much. t didn't catch on then. And I can't figure why the mileage is so much lower--probably because of the weight of the transmission. Anyone here know why?

I think the days of the clutch/manual transmission are ending.

They are. They are no longer more efficient by any measure (including shifting for performance)

And paddle shifting is pretty much “what’s the point?”.

Paddle Shifting? It is for when I want to hold it in a particular gear that the 'automatic' feature does not like. Same reason there is a button that lets me turn off 'swerve control' But there is still a reason for paddle shifting. the 'paddle shifters' on F1 cars and some high end luxury/performance road cars have what is sometimes called 'twin clutch' that is shifts faster than the usual automatic tranny and is controlled by paddle shifters. The paddle shifters on my 2018 Corolla with CVT is there mostly for similar reasons as the old 'racing stripes' trim that were known to increase stationary speed by at least 10%. or even better example, the chromed oil dip stick.

I am so boring that in two months of driving Corollaline, I have not taken her out of ECO mode and never touched the paddle shifters.

I very much hope I am a CVT's dream driver - like granny used to be lol.

I’ve been in Eco mode in my CR-V since I bought it as even in eco mode it performs better than my last car so I figure “why not”. And I used the paddle shifters once or twice in my last car and I wasn’t impressed so I would be surprised if I passed that in this one.

They are. They are no longer more efficient by any measure (including shifting for performance)

Perhaps, but a clutch is a lot more fun to drive. Sadly, some will never get the chance to experience this.

It's probably a good idea the manual shift is now rare. The current generation would need to learn how to text and shift gears simultaneously.

The current weather in much of our country reminds me of one place where the auto tranny was/is a miserable failure -- 'rocking' a car when stuck in the snow. It was useful when your car was bogged down in packed snow or even ice, but not 'high centered." The latter meant the you had managed to get into snow deep enough to pack itself under the entire car so that the car was sitting on snow even if you had dug out the snow around the tires and they were hanging in the air touching nothing.

Rocking. This involved getting the car moving slightly, even if just inches, in one direction, then moving the car quickly in the other direction using the inertia of the mass of the car to add to the force in each direction, each time moving just a tiny bit more than the last time until the car developed enough inertia to move completely out of the snow. This required quickly shifting from low gear to reverse and back, quickly just as the tires began to spin, rather than provide traction. The basic 'three on the tree" shift pattern was well adapted for the effort. Some times it would also work in mud or sand.

Or. You just dug out the snow around the tires and added strap-on chains.

I prefer to never return to those experiences. I accept the damage from snow plows and road surface melters. But I have heard rumors that studded snow tires are still available and legal in some circumstances.

snailgate.

Joe Guy wrote: ↑

Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:53 pm

It's probably a good idea the manual shift is now rare. The current generation would need to learn how to text and shift gears simultaneously.

I second this sentiment wholeheartedly. It is TERRIFYING driving around here anymore, and I am NOT exaggerating. Beyond the daily litany of road carnage one sees on the news, I experience EVERY SINGLE DAY at least one incidence of a car crossing the center line as it approaches me from the opposite direction on my daily work commute.

This Monday, when the road were still very messy after initial morning plowing/treatment, I was nearly hit head on by a jackoff in a Subaru Impreza who was clearly LOOKING AT HIS PHONE as he drove close to 50mph down a messy, icy/snowy road with road traffic ahead of him and oncoming in the opposite lane. My whole body was clenched as I watched that car cross the center line and come within a few car lengths of me before he looked up and jerked his wheel in surprise back into him own lane. I was so paralyzed with fear I didn't even lay on the horn because I remember thinking "which of these buttons (there are more than a dozen on the Corolla wheel) is the horn?!?!? Obviously it's the big giant center of the wheel, but I haven't used it since getting the car and it just wasn't in my head as I was strangely fascinated by my impending head on collision death approaching.

Every single time I go out on the road around here I am on the watch for center line crossers. They are all on their phones, reading or watching Tik Tok or whateverthefuck who knows????? what could possibly be so important that the massive hands free entertainment center on the vehicle isn't entertaining enough for the daily commute that you have to have your stupid face buried in your fucking cell phone??????? It's MADDENING. Yes I am SHOUTING about it.

I figured that with a brand new cozy reliable vehicle I would go more places and get out more, but I am just as reluctant as ever to leave the house when not required by demands of earning a living and stocking the larder. I bought an annual park pass with the intent to check out all the wonderful state parks around me this year with Riley, but I have to force myself to make these outings rather than being excited to do it because the getting there is so scary.

And no, I don't think I'm being irrationally anxious about this issue. What's it like where you're driving? Are you also seeing insanity on a daily basis on the road these days?

BoSoxGal wrote: ↑

Fri Jan 24, 2025 1:19 pm

And no, I don't think I'm being irrationally anxious about this issue. What's it like where you're driving? Are you also seeing insanity on a daily basis on the road these days?

Living on the San Francisco peninsula, I am surrounded by self-absorbed people. It is an unusual day if I don't need to use my horn to let someone in front of me know that a traffic light has turned green or that I'm next to them in the lane they're veering towards. I've joked in the past that turn signals must be optional on cars these days because I rarely see anyone use them, and if I do see them, they're signaling to go right when making a left turn. I see so many Teslas around here that it reminds me of the 70s when it seemed like half the cars on the road were Volkswagen Beetles (like the one I drove). And I worry about them because I don't know whether the drivers are actually driving them.

Fortunately, I haven't run into one of these Waymo cars yet but they're coming soon.

I might have to start wearing a helmet when I drive.