EURO/I45/KIZASHI/6 comparison

[antony]

In the September 2010 edition of Wheels ,a 4 way comparison.

Euro won,followed closely by the 6,then Kizashi and lastly I45.

If price was an issue,Kizashi would have won.

But if price is not an issue,the Euro is the b est medium sized car on the market.

[BraXta]

look at longevity i would go for a suzuki or Mazda... and wouldnt suprise me the i45 is better too lol...

[tron07]

if money is not a factor, I will choose the Euro.. hell give me 330

[buddah51au]

for the last several years the Euro & the Mazda 6 have been the leaders in their category, with the Euro having a very slight edge, so nothing is new. I am surprised the Liberty was not included. As always the rest in the class are also rans & don't stack up. As for longevity, for many years the Euro, 6 & liberty have had the runs on the board, although not sure on the current liberty with a CVT

[curtis265]

Euro's good, but the mazda has the MPS brand! That's too awesome!

[praja6]

for the last several years the Euro & the Mazda 6 have been the leaders in their category, with the Euro having a very slight edge, so nothing is new. I am surprised the Liberty was not included. As always the rest in the class are also rans & don't stack up. As for longevity, for many years the Euro, 6 & liberty have had the runs on the board, although not sure on the current liberty with a CVT

Buddah,

Whats the different between CVT and our EUro 5speed automatic. I know my friend had an AUdi 2004 , A4 model he said his CVT gone and had to spent 4000 to replace the new CVT.. Is CVT something not reliable? Not sure in new AuDI CVT, but liberty may use same type of CVT anyway

[SPQR]

CVT = Continuously Variable Transmission - Steel belt made up of links that stretch between opposing double sets of cone-shape pulleys. The cones move toward and away from each other and in so doing, changing the diameter of the circle around which the belt must travel ie the 'gear ratio'. Both sets of double cones do this so there's an infinite range of variable gear ratios available. Microprocessor control in modern versions are generally programmed to keep the engine revs at around peak torque by continuously changing the gear ratio from low to high as speed increases.

I think Leonardo da Vinci thought of it first.

The Euro auto has a 'traditional' planetary automatic transmission with gear cogs.

Over to buddah51au for the real explanation.

[praja6]

Yes BUddah can explain the real differents, pros and cons between CVT and traditional auto transmission

[buddah51au]

CVT (Constantly Variable Transmission Ratios) are generally seamless in their operation & it is very hard to notice the gear change points. They are still in their early stages of development, some are Belt driven while others are Chain driven.(Of the cars in this comparison The Liberty has a chain driven CVT while the Kizashi has a belt driven CVT). Reliability & longevity is the key issue for me as there have been a number of premature CVT failures, Only Time & billions of kms will allow manufacturers time to develop these transmissions to the point where they are as reliable as Automatic Transmissions that Use the traditional Planetary Gear Sets. Traditional Automatic Transmissions are generally ultra reliable, but lack of servicing &/or towing heavy loads without an extra oil cooler can lead to premature failure of these transmissions as well. As a lot of us say about premature transmission failure-"out of sight is out of mind" as the number of transmissions that rarely if ever get serviced is unbelievable.

I believe a lot of this is due to the lack of detail in the owners service booklet as rarely do you see anything about Auto transmission servicing at regular intervals. The average person has a lack of knowledge about this, but if you ask any transmission workshop about how often an Auto transmission should be serviced, 9 times out of 10 the answer will be every 20,000km or 12 months. How many people do that, very few. This leads me to comment on the I45, a new 6 speed auto which is good news as an extra ratio is always good, but to make that new Auto a sealed unit was a big mistake, so it is a throw away unit which I am sure will make many owners happy sometime in the future. Transmissions need to have oil changes just like engines, although not as often.

My other concern with CVT transmissions at this point in time is that to my knowledge it is only the Japanese & Korean manufacturers following this route. Honda did fit a CVT to the earlier Jazz models, but I believe they have reverted to planetary gear Auto's in the New Jazz. It appears the German manufacturers (VW/Audi, BMW & Mercedes) are staying with Traditional planetary Auto's, but they are going to 7 & 8 forward gear sets. German Technology has been leading edge for many years, but I do not know of a German Vehicle with a CVT gearbox. I have no doubt they have explored that avenue, but so far have not been able to perfect it. That is the yardstick for me.

I know many of you will ask where or how I make these judgment calls. A workshop I previously owned in partnership relied extensively on Auto transmission servicing & repairs for easy profit. 1 particular customer owned 5 taxi's to which we fitted additional oil coolers & serviced every 30k. On average from memory he was getting 600,000km+ before a rebuild was required compared to the average of around 160,000km.

[curtis265]

You sir, have good info

I'm just going to miss the fun of changing gears and wetting myself when i hit the redline

[aaronng]

Euro's good, but the mazda has the MPS brand! That's too awesome!

Don't think Mazda is releasing the 6 MPS for the latest version though. Only the 3 has the MPS version.

[buddah51au]

You sir, have good info

I'm just going to miss the fun of changing gears and wetting myself when i hit the redline

The CU2 has a paddle shift in sorts mode, but if you don't judge the shift just right you feel the limiter at about 7300rpm