Ask an expert

I have just bought a 2008 Toyota Ractis, fitted with a CVT, with 41,000km on the clock. All is running very well, except for one thing: at low constant speed, on a level road, the engine seems to constantly engage then disengage from the transmission, which people in the car experience as tugs, and then a release from being tugged. This can get a bit annoying. I am guessing that this is automated behaviour by the CVT "clutch". My question is this: is this normal behaviour for this vehicle or for Toyota CVTs from this era? Or is it a sign of more serious trouble to come? In practice I find that the tugginess can be mostly banished by putting the car into "Sport" mode.

It may pay to have this vehicle checked by a transmission shop to see if its consistent with other models they have tested in the past, often transmission shops will have a good gauge on what is considered normal behaviour.