Looking at buying a subaru forester at around 6000 miles and its all very confusing and a bit scary.. Subaru says only to inspect fluid every 6000 miles but the way the transmission is built I cant imagine it wont produce a lot of metal dust within.. I have to ask, do you have anu numbers to support your claim and wasnt the Subaru warranty ONLY for the 2014-2018 cars?
@@garremannen change oils as often as possible. For the CVT Subaru sais 8 years and 120.000km for a Forester. WTHail?! Just change it with quality oil( not what you get on tv)
Not true, you are a rare case then ! Its not the fluids, its the contact surfaces! my experience it 75,000 miles or less. And excessive friction damage. Ive seen the CV drives, they are dust and toasted to nothing. EVERY single one EVER built! Its part of the design. Look at the schematics! They are super weak and friction prone. Overheat ONE time, YOU ARE BONED!
@frosthoe utter nonsense. I am on my 3rd forester with a cvt and all have done 200000 + km, all have been fine, It is either your driving or poor maintenance. That simple.
300,000 k's on my 2010 Outback and I just replaced my TC lockup solenoid myself. A very easy fix for anyone mechanically minded and only cost me AUD240 for parts and fluid. I didn't replace the valve body so there was no need for the "relearning" process that requires specialist equipment. The CVT is now perfoming flawlessly.
We recently bought a 2023 Chevrolet Trailblazer with a 1.2 engine, & a CVT trans. & I didn't even give it a 2nd thought about buying the vehicle. & so far I've been impressed with the performance of the trans. Thanks for the video.
The trouble you will get there is the engine. The tiny engine is pushed to its limit with the added turbo pressures. Keep your oil checked. I have four GM vehicles with the CVT and 1.6 waiting for parts. One needs a new engine due to oil starvation.
I’ve always changed my transmission fluid every 30k miles. When I brought my (first) Subaru in a week ago for a free oil change I asked about changing the fluid. I was told it was good “for the life of the car”. If I change it I understand it voids the warranty. I watched a video on changing the fluid and while having a lift (due to the angle of having to refill the fluid) would make things easier, it doesn’t seem complicated. Why does Subaru stick to the “lifetime” concept, wouldn’t it be better to have it changed? Owners manual does specify heavy duty use to change it, so since I do sit in a lot of stop and go traffic I’d consider that “extreme”. At 35k I’ll be out of warranty anyway so if I want to have it changed probably won’t hurt me financially either way. Honestly don’t know… 🤷♂️ Love my car by the way, really happy with it!
As the person in the video stated, Subaru warranties its CVT for 10 years or 100,00 miles. If you service the CVT before then, that will void the remaining warranty.
as per user manual- 8 years and 120.000km. No- not doing that! 45.000km. But 99% of users have no ideea that the oil that they use is low quality. Engine oil, CVT oil, diff oil- all of them are low low quality. Thats why your engine blows, VCT goes into limp mode, etc..because you are using a low quality oil. Even if its OEM. PS- quality oil is not on TV, nor in a marketing campain. You need to find it.
Great info!! 💫Subarus are awesome rigs, I have had (2). Currently paying off my17 model crosstrek w/ less than 53k miles. Glad Subaru has provided us with that extra warranty piece of mind too.
My 2018 v6 Nissan cvt made it to 60k almost had 36k hard miles and still works perfectly seen redline 5000 times or so just don't give it full throttle until ur at 15mph and ur not abusing it and don't press the gas pedal a bunch of times keep 10% throttle for long period of time while driving not constantly throttling it letting off throttle and pressing gas again. Cvt likes to be under acceleration or off acceleration for 3 seconds until u press gas again
Whew! Just brought my new cvt wrx home yesterday and thought "oh shiester!" I love the cvt and I'm a life long shifter. The shift points are brilliant especially in sport mode. It holds the gear during spirited driving rather than shifting down, which was my biggest gripe with old-school trannies. Love the wrx!
Thanks for sharing, I pre-ordered a 2022 Forester Limited, your review will alleviate some apprehension regarding the Subaru CVT. I know Honda and Toyota uses the e-CVT that are very reliable as well. My wife drives a 2017 Honda Civic w/e-CVT trans.
The eCVT doesn't use belts or chains and is completely different in every way to traditional CVTs. The eCVT is nothing more that a planetary gear set, which makes it dead reliable.
Driving a cvt is great. I do have to ask about that $1,200 number. I suspect a transmission shop is going to be double that or more. Maybe that number is old.
I'm looking at a 2024 Subaru Outback Wilderness and am concerned, as many are, about the reliability of the CVT. I've never owned a Subi and would like to know how reliable they are. I drive a lot in variable conditions, in town and across the country. I appreciate Japanese ingenuity and design and am very Impressed with the longevity and reliability with my 2009 Toyota Sienna. 245k and it runs tip top, I do the maintenance. I'm hoping that since Toyota and Subaru have merged some technologies the Outback will provide many years of reliability.
Just ordered a 2023 Forester Sport which will be my first ever CVT. I can't say I'm excited for it, but I have no concerns abut reliability and I am looking forward to the fuel economy which should be a 2-3 MPG improvement over my Impreza Sport 5 speed. I've done a good amount of research and Subaru CVTs seem to be some of the best in the industry, so I'm not worried.
@@cristianstriblea792 I decided I wanted the 2.4 turbo engine so I cancelled my Forester order and purchased a 2023 Outback Touring XT last week. It was $5000 more than the Forester (ouch!) but I have no regrets. I absolutely love the Outback and I can't believe how comfortable and well equipped it is, feels like a full-on luxury vehicle. It's well worth the upgrade in my opinion. I'm sure the Forester would have been fine, but I prefer to have ample power in my vehicles when I can and I plan on this being my last vehicle purchase for a long time.
Perfectly fine transmission if you just drive it like you’re supposed to not flooring it off the line or up a hill. Just smoothly roll into everything you do and it’ll be good for a long time
I have never changed the CVT fluid in our Subaru and It is at over 200k miles. I’ve always been able to tell when it’s cold that it slips more. So I drive it like a grandpa for about 5 miles it pulls just like it should. The CVT does an excellent job getting the most out of a 2.5 liter power plant hauling the heavy and bloated 17 outback! It’s big compared to older models but the car is super capable and the CVT performs excellent. The feeling of the “shifts” reminds me of an old C6 or Turbo 400 but with more “gears”
Thanks for the video. Question do Subaru's CVTs have a first regular gear like Toyota or Hondas CVTs? I am asking because the combination of a first gear in a CVT seams to me what makes them reliable...I think.
I have a 2021 Crosstrek Ltd. I went off road - nothing technical and used the Xmode once. All the lights lit up on the dash including the AT temp light. All of the lights cleared after shutting it off for several hours. Seemed to drive well the last few days but this did happen 2x while climbing a hill (not very steep). I took it to the dealer and they said I need a new CVT - which shocked me. This video is interesting. I already called Subaru of America and I am waiting to see what they say. If they won't cover, I will mention the solenoid issue.
Just returned from the dealer due to recently occurring shudder and lack of acceleration with increasing rpms with check engine light. The dealer says our 2016 Forester with only 118,000 kms needs a replacement CVT. Thankfully the warranty will cover it. I remember being worried about that CVT when we bought it, and almost bought a Rav4 instead because of its 6-speed conventional automatic transmission. The warranty on the replacement transmission will only be a year, so that's not great, but if the replacement can last seven years, we'll be good.
I have a 2016 forester as well. The valve body went out at 98k then the entire transmission went out at 108k. The remanufactured transmission lasted all of 6k. I'm done with it.
Short answer to this question? Look after it and it will look after you. Our 2011 CVT went 11 years 255,000 km no problems. Regular CVT fluid changes to keep it fresh. There is no such thing as a lifetime fluid.
Ive heard quite a bit about that as well. It does seem to be with the newer ones, my 2012 has its original windshield still. Got hit with a quarter size rock at 65 mph and it bounced off. GL
I already replaced fluid twice at 50k and 90k for 2015 3.6R. Every time fluid showed a sign that it needs to be replaced. Besides that, I agree, it's a good transmission.
We’re on our 4th Subaru with Cvt’s. No problems with any of them. I have dealer change the fluid every 50k miles. The Nissan Jatco Cvt’s were supposed to be the really bad ones.
JATCO hasn’t had a widespread failure since 2013 for the judder/shudder campaign. Since then, JATCO has been excellent. It’s also important to note that the whole Nissan cvt thing is one of the biggest false news stories to perpetuate since the GM diesel debacle in the 80s. Since the JATCO cvt issues in 2013, Honda had issues in 2013-2014, Subaru had issues from 2014-2017, and Toyota had issues in 2018. All cvt’s are reliable now.
I recently test drove multiple new 2024 Impreza RS models and all of them had whining noise possibly coming from CVT. Some made that whining noise during acceleration, others off accelerator such as when coasting. Any ideas if all of them are bad or that is expected?
Do you think a turbo diesel would be too much for a cvt? I too quite like the cvt drive, I had a cvt turbo audi that would do under 6L/100km on the highway and it was just really nice on long drives.
PZEV Warranty, covers emission up to 150k miles unlimited mileage, Call subaru of America ive heard many stories of them covering the cvt under this warranty.
Hi, I have 3 mentions: 1. I drive CVT now; i often use manual mode, and I have a much better fuel consumption. I test drive (back to back) a XV Crosstrek and I loved more the CVT over a manual 5 speed (mostly because of high revs @ 120 km/h. 2. I never had any problems with the clutch, and I drive manuals since 1992. I brought some cars @ more than 500 000 km. 3. Usually, it is better to have a manual if you tow a trailer, the driver have the control.
Good point on towing. Anything with a torque converter gets incredibly hot when towing. This is why trucks have an optional "towing package" to add additional cooling to the torque converter.
Warranty of Subaru CVT is only 5 years and 60,000 miles in 2023. Only older CVTs got the extension. My parents lost the throttle body on both Subarus (2014 and 2015) at 80,000 miles in Florida heat. They lost the transmission completely at about 135,000 miles. That is not as good as my 2013 Subaru with a 5 speed with is still on the original transmission with 136,000 miles. I am not sure I will buy another Subaru as a result.
Problem with CVTs is that no consumer ever asked for them. The industry just forced them onto us because their manufacturing is less costly. They kept repeating that they are the best since they keep the engine in its optimal power band but consumers don't care about that...because the driving experience is destroyed in the process. Case in point, consumers requested the feel of changing gears to restore the experience. The automakers responded by degrading the efficiency of the CVT by adding this "manual" mode. What they should have done is to completely ditch it and go back to manual transmission. Yet, since the CVT reduces the manufacturer's costs, they opted for this contraption.
I am a master mechanic. Subaru CVT’s have complete failures often times before 100,000 miles. If you tow anything or use the car aggressively they will fail at about 50,000 miles. Nissan buys their CVT’s from Jatco transmission company. This company also supplies CVT’s to Stellantis for their Jeep products. These are among the worst transmissions ever made.. A manual transmissions clutch can easily last 200,000 miles if you drive the car correctly. A CVT is much cheaper to manufacture than a standard clutch type automatic transmission. That is why Subaru uses them. Most manufactures are discontinuing the use of CVT, because of consumer complaints and their relatively short service life.
I love the CVT for driving, but Subaru has had problems with the CVT. Especially for those who go off road occasionally. I’ve owned a number of Subarus but will not buy another one until I’m sure the CVT in them is completely reliable. I had two friends have their Subaru CVT go completely out. I do believe the.last few years they have been improved and are much more reliable. However I’m waiting too see.
After doing a lot of research on belt/chain design CVT's, I decided that in the absence of a good manual option that I will stick with Mazda & their modernized-design "SkyActiv" 6-speed automatic. Well, that or an "eCVT" transmission hybrid vehicle, since that is a totally different design & much better than any crappy, budget-built belt/chain CVT used in regular ICE vehicles.
I'm personally bored of regular transmissions that have same rpm at same speed. Cvt always has different revs at different speeds and with throttle u can manipulate the rpms u want mid corner to get some grip and rpms u need
I had a Subaru cross trek with the cvt and the valve body failed. Pricing here was around $2000 at the time. Traded it for a 2018 forester with a manual. That clutch kit I have found for $300-$500 currently. I’ll stick with this for now.
the problem i had was gearbox failer on my 96 toyota. no trans shops hear would even go near a manual transmission. one guy even said manuals are not even made anymore im like wtf are you talking about and listed brand new cars with standerd shift.
I know people that have had problems with cvts from a bunch of brands, Ford Nissan Subaru Honda Toyota. They are cheaper to manufacture and provide little benefits over a well designed conventional transmission. I think that is the only reason they go with them, a lot of transmission shops wont rebuild them or even touch them.
What is your take on the transmission fluid drain/fill? I know Honda once said like every 30,000 miles they recommend it. Some people say that it is a lifetime, which again is not true. Nothing is for life.
On my '14 Accord the CVT failed at 60k miles. I bought it at 32k miles, not sure if the fluid was changed at 30k or not, but I'm thinking it wasn't. Luckily it was Certified, so it was under warranty (would've been $6k!). I'm now at 127k, so 67k on the second CVT, with 2 fluid changes at the dealer (not cheap, unfortunately), and no issues. They told me at the time they replaced it that when they are regularly serviced, they don't have issues. So I'd recommend having it serviced every 30k.
@@thinbrickspec77 Subaru does not want you to touch the fluid, and it can and will void the warranty. We purchased a 10 Year/100K Warranty (out the door) with a $100 deductible. It was very reasonable. So I will not be concerned about the 10th year as the car will probably go. Unless Subaru starts changing its maintenance procedures. I will not touch it while still under warranty.
@@Calabrese1966 it won't void the warranty if done at any Subaru Dealer. Canadian sold Subaru's suggest changing it at 40k, its every 25-30k in Japan. Do you think U.S. sold Subaru vehicles have a different fluid put in them when shipped here from Japan? Lol If your dealer tells you NO if you request it be change, call SOA or go to a different dealership.
@@Calabrese1966that’s extremely misguided. ONLY Subaru North America has those guidelines. Subaru, in every other worldwide location they have, recommends cvt fluid changes between 30-60k miles. As this is a critical mileage point where the fluid breaks down and begins to varnish the internal structure of the transmission and valve body. I’d strongly recommend a fluid change at 60k miles at the absolute latest.
The best advantage CVT can give is the cost cutting in the production of the manufacturer, the headache will will be to the consumer, good if the car dealerships will give special offer to the CVT car buyers giving their customers a free supply of PARACETAMOL to mend the consumer's headache.
Only reason i want one is because i want the car i want but its because i had second shoulder surgery at 21 but ive never been againts people gettin manual in auto matic
Update. My grandma like driving style co-workers CVT DIED again! . The one that was replaced last year...that was replaced...Its like an oil change. Go in get fluids, filter changed, Bi annually. And a new CVT Transmission every year on purchase day anniversary.. 3-CVT's in 3 years. Yeah Im gonna skip on that snowmobile tech till its no contact Mag clutch, and mag drive gears. The beuty of a Magnetic clutch is it never overheats from friction, Inductance maybe, not friction.
Subaru Japan says to change cvt fluid 36000/3 while in USA they say to never change it unless you pull trailer. Then change it at maybe 15000. Why the difference?
The United States has its own Subaru headquarters and own sets of standards for Subaru vehicles sold here. For example, they say in North American, the Subaru Outback 2.5 can tow significantly less than the same exact specifications of Outback sold in Australia. Why? Political and legal nonsense. Japan likely has a very strong consumer advocacy stance and Subaru Japan knows that cvts require diligent maintenance for longevity. Short answer? Trust Japan on this one.
The outlander is the Nissan rogue underneath. It has the jatco cvt but with a transmission cooler and a ten year warranty on that cvt. It’s the only way I would consider a mitsushitty or a Nissan.
Fixed now with full transmission replaced under warranty. Considering getting a manual version next by proceeding with a california lemon law case for the CVT. At 60k miles this car already has a replaced engine and transmission. @@TheDirthound
I had a Mini Cooper with a CVT and hated the drivability of it. Plus, after about 120k miles, bearings in the transmission started singing to us. About a $5k job to replace it. The experience made me swear off all CVTs.
@@KurtofTrades thanks. I’ve decided to avoid the Subaru lineup until they update the tr690 trans. That’s the same one that has been failing in Subarus since 2015. Not worth the risk on a brand new car unfortunately
@@KurtofTrades I think it’s short sighted to believe that Subaru will simply extend the warranty so easily. The only reason Subaru extended the warranty on prior years cvt’s was because they lost a lawsuit and a judge ordered Subaru to extend the warranty and pay denied claims.
@@richardepstein3494 5 years/60,000 miles. Your powertrain warranty is ending very soon or has ended. If you have not changed your cvt fluid in these 5 years, there may already be varnish and damage to the valve body. My advice is to immediately change the cvt fluid with a high quality, full synthetic oil. Go to Subaru to have it done preferably. However, finding a Subaru dealer that will do this service is extremely difficult. Call around and book the service asap. They’ll likely tell you that it’s not good to change it. Completely false. Change it every 30k miles. -30 year master mechanic.
Ps I called Subaru America, they were rude , defensive about my issue and treated me like insurance companies do when you file an accident claim after paying your premium 5 yrs on time ridiculous what they get away with burning consumers and not as advertised product,
I don’t think I’d wanna buy used one that someone used to tow with! Especially if it’s an automatic, those transmissions don’t seem solid enough for that there is no cooler for them
My 04 Honda Accord has almost 300,000 City miles on it and I'm still on the original clutch I'm noticing the throwout bearing is starting to make some noise now so it's going to be soon. But since I'll be replacing the clutch myself it will only be a three to four hundred dollar repair
LMAO i drove like a moron burned through a clutch in 30k in several models fords, Hondas, toyotas, nissans no suburus, there is no way a clutch will make it the entire span of the cars life not if you actually drive a car with some purpose.. maybe if you just babied the car its whole life but i do my own clutches takes you about 8 hours total but i generally just enjoy the process of working on the car so spend the weekend putting in a new clutch, also oil change intervals are a joke to, i have had many vehicles make it past 300k doing sporadic maintenance every thing they mention is merely a gimmick to take your money you can go 10k miles in between oil changes easily with no issues, i had a ford ranger only changed the oil 6 times sold it still running strong at 308k miles and its a ford every one says there junk lol, all these videos are only opinions not actual facts, you want a suburu go get one they seem like any other car, what you should look at is how much do replacement parts cost for that model, ex ford alternator 80$ Mercedes $380 hmm wich car should i buy? Thats my thoughts but CVt Transmission are like any other Transmission nothing exponentially bad about them every thing wears out eventually just slap a new one in over the weekend and drive on. Super simple.
As the driver of mechanically flawless 277,000 and 177,000 mile cars, a 100,000 warranty on a belt-pulley friction-drive transmission design isn't that reassuring.
Dont think Toyotas or Hondas use belts or chains. At least not the Toyota hybrids. They call it an eCVT but its a planteray gesr set not a traditional CVT.
If this video was made as of 7 months ago how can you know that Subaru cvt's are now reliable since there hasn't been enought time to test that out. A 1999 Subaru Forester will virtually never have problems with it's 5speed transmission as of 20+ years being in existance. When cvt's can get to that age without issues then I'll believe they're reliable. Being in service for one year with no issues doesn't prove reliablity.
By their design CVTs can have more issues than a standard gear transmission. Is it really just the solenoids that are problematic? I'd think belts slipping would be the major problem. It would have been interesting to compare CVT to a geared transmission. But Subaru doesn't make any so can't make a fair comparison Are those extended warranty transferable for used cars?
@@gogereaver349 oh cool. The Brat will be like the Baja of yore. Subaru needs to make something in this class to capitalize on the popularity of the Ford Maverick, Hyundai Santa Cruz, and the upcoming Toyota Stout.
Subaru cvt uses a chain. Chain made in Germany. I personally would void the warranty and make the dealer change the transmission oil early, say every 60K miles.
Nissan's terrible CVT history has totally destroyed the CVT rep that it does not deserve. Maybe 10+ years ago but not anymore, Subaru has been getting REALLY good at making worthy CVTs. My CVT has 118k on it with no issues on a 2014 Legacy. In fact other than a serpentine belt replacement I have not had to do anything else to the Legacy, MUCH more than i can say for the Honda's, Pontiac's, Mitsubishi's, BMW's and Ford's over the years. In fact outside of my wife's Lexus RX330 (and a 350 afterwards) the Legacy is the only car I haven't had to work on while owning.
The problem with that is Nissan doesn’t make CVT’s. They purchase them from JATCO. Interesting enough, Subaru partnered with JATCO to design their cvt. The same JATCO that builds Nissan cvt’s. Subaru still uses that exact same design today. Ill informed Subaru people try to say that JATCO cvt’s are horrible, and I just think how foolish that sounds knowing our cvt’s (yes I am an Outback owner) are designed by JATCO.
My 14’ legacy was in th3 dealership every 3-4 months due to the cvt. Also went through 3 windshields from 2014 to 2019 when my Mustang GT replaced it. Nowhere near as reliable as my 02’ wrx. Done with Subaru.
@@robme3660 I read that contract bro. It says as long as I’m the original owner they will care for my power train; I also called the vendor for the warranty and they said it’s legit as long as I’m the owner
@@robme3660yeah bro, some are very tricky, you need at least change your oil at a ASE certified place at 5-7k miles intervals, but there’s not only that, there is a fine print that states that they will not cover anything if its was 1000 miles prior oil change, 😂😂😂. So in fact if the interval is at 5k you need to do oil changes at 3k ish… you better don’t miss an oil change because you just wasted money… and there are more fine prints, but those are mine and missing…
Exactly! People just talk crap based on what they hear. I have 2015k on my Impreza cat and I ride it hard in manual mode to access the power. The same goes for people saying it’s a slow car. No it’s not a race car but it’s zippy as hell if you shift into the 4000 rpm’s. People in my car consistently go “ oh shit” when I downshift
Subaru will not honor the extended warranty on the transmission if the fluid has been changed within the 100k period. Exception would be if a dealer serviced it and had to drain and fill. If a owner services it during the time / mileage period, the warranty is void.
