Still hunting: Nissan tweaks its CVT strategy again for 2019 Altima
Much more than the styling is new in the Nissan Altima — there’s a heavily revised base 2.5-liter inline-four, Nissan’s turbocharged variable-compression (VC-Turbo) 2.0-liter four replacing the V-6 in uplevel models, broader availability of all-wheel drive, ProPilot Assist, and quite an array of other new tech. The Xtronic continuously variable transmission (CVT) looked to be one of the few things that’s carried over from the current Altima, but Nissan recently told us that it has put a lot of thought and effort into making its automatic transmission of choice more livable and responsive.
According to Chris Reed, the executive in charge for platform and technology engineering, engineers really homed in on specific real-world gripes that continued after Nissan’s previous rethink of the transmission—when it turned to the D-step logic that more closely emulates a traditional automatic, making it feel as if it was shifting gears under a wide range of moderate-acceleration conditions. Michael Bunce, Nissan North America’s vice president for product planning, mused that the gotcha moments came when Subaru, Toyota, and Honda followed suit. “We knew we were doing something right,” he said.
That said, the strategies from each of those automakers all remain a bit different. Reed concedes that while CVTs have been very reliable in an engineering sense for many years, tuning them to feel right to consumers has been a separate, much tougher hurdle. “At the very beginning, we thought CVT was the perfect solution; in reality the customer said that they didn’t understand it.”
Hence the revisions for the 2019 Altima, which meant picking apart individual responses to J.D. Power’s Initial Quality Study and Vehicle Dependability Study, then working to improve the CVT’s behavior.
REFINING THE SHIFTS
Reed said the latest round retunes all of the transmission’s transition points, with the 2019 model somewhat sharper at tip-in and low-speed responsiveness while softer in some other behaviors. “It’s not tearing up anything. It’s about continuous refinement, and we’re getting very good results based on customer feedback.”
The CVT in the Altima had its last major hardware update for the 2013 model year, and Nissan’s other models have all been given those changes, which included a reduced-friction design, a wider ratio spread, and a belt that could better handle high torque outputs. Nissan has no plans to replace Xtronic with a multi-speed automatic transmission or a dual-clutch gearbox in the near future, apart from potentially using its e-Power hybrid system, which uses the engine only to power a large generator, with all propulsion being done by an electric motor.
In the new Altima, the CVT also gets an expanded torque-converter lockup range, and steering-wheel shift paddles are offered on the Altima SR model with either engine. With the standard 2.5-liter four you can now get all-wheel drive on any Altima trim; the AWD option isn’t offered with the 2.0-liter turbo, although Nissan officials dropped plenty of hints that it’s on the way. And Reed says that the CVT is going to be a great companion with the new VCTurbo four that replaces the V-6. With the two together, he says that, “the balance of compression ratio and fuel economy is all driven by how hard they press the pedal.”
We’ve found the Infiniti QX50, which uses a version of nearly the same powertrain — in a heavier vehicle — to be quite agreeable. Our chance to discover how well that translates to the Altima will have to wait until the 2019 models arrive in fall.