Nx450 and ecvt

[Luis.A.]

In a few days my NX450 H+ ordered in October 2021 will arrive. I have never had a car with ecvt, and my fear is that I am no sure I'll support the noise during long trips and climbs. What can Lexus owners with cvt tell me? Thanks a lot

[ColinBarber]

If the noise is too much for you then you back off the throttle a little and the engine revs drop.

[NemesisUK]

Force it into EV only mode?

How did you find the noise when you took the test drive? 

I find the engine noise very muted in my RC, and with the radio on, totally inaudible

[Luis.A.]

when I did the test drive I found it noisy on highway climbs when accelerating in auto/hybrid mode
My dealer says that in a few days I'll get used to it. I hope so.
Thanks

Th

 

 

[RXtoNX]

as @ColinBarberpoints out, although my experience is with the RH450h, just back off a little & the noise reduces considerably & has very little affect on the progress made.

You have to learn to feather the throttle, once you get use to this the cvt box is a pleasure. I was hesitant at first but now really appreciate the smoothness

[Don C]

You have to take the engine revs for what they are.  For the most part the car is virtually silent.  A lot of these journalists are quoting a belt driven transmission but it isn’t, there is no belt.  It’s a very cleverly controlled epicyclic gearbox that can choose to be high geared or if you ask for high power, the only way it can deliver it is to combine engine power with electric motor power and to feed juice to them it uses the motor as a generator.  It spins up to make electricity while it also feeds power into the gearbox.  If a standard auto kicks down it will rev.  Just forget about it.   I’ve not floored mine yet as it’s running in but I can tell it is going to go well so it probably won’t see a lot of high revs.  

[Luis.A.]

Your experience really inssures me.

Thanks for that

[RXtoNX]

7 hours ago, Don C said:

 A lot of these journalists are quoting a belt driven transmission but it isn’t, there is no belt.  

Exactly this ^^^^^^

First & foremost is lazy journalism, they just repeat what others are saying because they think it makes them sound as though they know what they are talking about when, in reality, the majority are just story writers who crib from each other.

I know a guy who used to review cars for Autoexpress & then Parkers. He admits what I have just posted is largely correct.

Answer is get yourself an extended test drive and form your own opinions

 

[pws]

I'm guessing that this YouTube video is well-known to regulars here (at least those of a mechanical bent):

Yes, this is the P710 drivetrain rather than the P810 used in the 450, but AFAIK the two are very similar with the P810 being somewhat more powerful.

Curiously, it was watching this video that made me look again at CVT-type transmissions, which I'd previous dismissed out of hand (though admittedly e-CVT is a related but distinct concept), and hence LED me to actively consider the 450. I certainly wouldn't buy a 450 just because it has e-CVT, but knowing that it has some pretty clever tech onboard is definitely a plus point.

And this JayEmm review, which again I guess is familiar territory hereabouts, was undoubtedly a further encouragement:

 

[er-minio]

I was worried about the noise (and about hating the e-CVT trans) but it is not that bad.

I find that Sport or Sport + generally restrain the revs a bit as the drive is more direct.
As other said, after the initial push, back off the throttle and the revs will drop. Sort of a reverse kick-down.

These e-cvt also simulate a 6 gear sequential transmission. It essentially limits the range of the e-cvt in 6 separate steps. It might help (haven't tried yet) on steep hills.

[NemesisUK]

17 minutes ago, er-minio said:

I was worried about the noise (and about hating the e-CVT trans) but it is not that bad.

I find that Sport or Sport + generally restrain the revs a bit as the drive is more direct.
As other said, after the initial push, back off the throttle and the revs will drop. Sort of a reverse kick-down.

These e-cvt also simulate a 6 gear sequential transmission. It essentially limits the range of the e-cvt in 6 separate steps. It might help (haven't tried yet) on steep hills.

Does the NX not have an S transmission mode, not just the Sport and Sport+ driving modes? My RC300h has the S transmission mode that allows a very good imitation of manual gear changes, allowing the driver to drop a 'gear' in preparation to overtaking, or cornering. Very 'PlayStation' like as in changes are instantaneous!

[er-minio]

Yes it is the S transmission mode (I'm new to Lexus).

[Herbie]

On 3/12/2022 at 3:18 PM, Luis.A. said:

In a few days my NX450 H+ ordered in October 2021 will arrive. I have never had a car with ecvt, and my fear is that I am no sure I'll support the noise during long trips and climbs. What can Lexus owners with cvt tell me? Thanks a lot

It can get a bit noisy I suppose, but only when the car is under hard acceleration, not all the time.

On any given journey it may be a bit noisy for 5% of the time, which means it's not noisy for 95% of the time. Are you really saying that you can't live with that?

[Luis.A.]

I was a bit worried about the ecvt noise, but I see that  this is not a big problem for owners, so It conforts me.

Er-minio, I didn't know Nx had an S transmission mode. (Good news)

Thankyou

[Don C]

On 3/13/2022 at 10:45 AM, pws said:

I'm guessing that this YouTube video is well-known to regulars here (at least those of a mechanical bent):

Yes, this is the P710 drivetrain rather than the P810 used in the 450, but AFAIK the two are very similar with the P810 being somewhat more powerful.

Curiously, it was watching this video that made me look again at CVT-type transmissions, which I'd previous dismissed out of hand (though admittedly e-CVT is a related but distinct concept), and hence led me to actively consider the 450. I certainly wouldn't buy a 450 just because it has e-CVT, but knowing that it has some pretty clever tech onboard is definitely a plus point.

And this JayEmm review, which again I guess is familiar territory hereabouts, was undoubtedly a further encouragement:

 

I think anybody with mechanical knowledge or mechanical curiosity will naturally need to know what’s going on.   I’ve watched most of John Kelly’s videos and they are in my opinion the most factual and thorough videos, I suspect Toyota staff watch them.  Not keen on the phrase “it is what it is” but once you understand what the transmission is doing, it’s easier to forget about the engine revs and in any case, what would these smart*sed journalists do if they wanted a manual box car do if they wanted to accelerate hard?   They’d drop it down a couple of gears and rev the nuts off it.  So Matt Watson, get the stick of truth and stick it where the truth doesn’t matter if you’re going to quote nonsense.  Does it matter if it revs under high acceleration? Does it matter if you can force the centre console to move? Does it matter if the manufacturer incudes design elements that mimic exhausts?   These are the things that many of these journalists dwell on.  I actually like Matt Watson but I wish he’d change the record on these things.   

[DanD]

I have read that the noise associated with the CVT is less prominent in the 450h+ than in the 350h (and previously 300h) because it is less dependent on the petrol engine which therefore does not need to work as hard under acceleration than the other hybrid models.