Day 24: CVT's are Weird

After driving the rev happy Fit for 3 and a half years, the Nissan Versa Note and its CVT are just plain disconcerting. I put my foot lightly down on the accelerator and it stays between 2000 and 2500 RPM's right up to 70 MPH. Go a little lighter, closer to 2000, a little heavier or hit a hill, it's at 2500. No wonder why car makers are leaning on CVTs so much for fuel economy. The first Versa I drove a couple years ago had a CVT that just couldn't decide what I was doing, revving then not giving me any acceleration, then revving. Maybe it was just from its hard rentacar life, or maybe they were just that crappy a couple years ago. I'm reading that the Honda CVT in the newest Fits is pretty decent, but not as fun as the stick. I'm just bummed that Honda chose to put in a 6 speed manual in the Fit with same final drive ratio as the old 5-speed manual in my Fit. I love most everything in my Fit, but 4000 RPM at a reasonable highway speed (CA I-5 in the middle of nowhere) is just painful. Anywho, I'm looking forward to rowing my own gears again. There's a level of disengagement with the vehicle with an automatic that I'm just not entirely comfortable with.