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Kia Ora,

Which out of Nissan, Honda and Toyota have the best track-record for CVT longevity?

I am looking for a second hand smaller van for business purposes.
The key runners in my Price range are a Nissan Serena 2008-2010, Toyota Noah 2007/8 and Honda Step Wagon 2007/8.
All have CVT transmissions, which I understand are the weak link in an otherwise function-laden package.

Alternatively, I have seen some Nissan NV200's come through with a manual box, but they tend to only be certed for the two front seats. If the reliability of a manual however is far above that of a CVT, I'd likely be happier to go without the capacity to carry extra passengers.

Your advice would be much appreciated.

Hi there,
We have received to most CVT related comments for vehicle around this year period for Nissan and Honda vehicles, but very little on the Toyota CVT.
So we would have to say that the Toyota transmission has the least potential for issues. Not all Honda and Nissan transmissions go bad, but that can depend on servicing and treatment of the vehicle prior to purchase.

I have been using couple of Nissan vehicles with CVT and quite happy about them. Before I bought them, did my reseacrh to find out Nissan CVTs come from their renowned subsidiary company JATCO which cater to half of worlds CVT unit demand. That includes brands like GM, JEEP, Dodge, Mazda, Suzuki etc. My worst CVT experience comes from Honda which is notorious for shudder and cost $400 to fix once every 30k km. Most particularly pre- 2010 models.