To be honest bro, i think it is really the saga's cvt only, not all the cvt are behaving like that. So far, i have driven only 2 types of cvt before, the Prius E-CVT and Altis's 7 speed CVT, so i can only tell the characteristics of these 2 cvts. For Prius's CVT, you can't feel the gear switching and changing like you normally will feel from normal AT or DCT/DSG. This, you got no feeling at all. At first, i though it was slow but when i tested it with OBD and apps, it shows from 0-100km/h, within 10 second. Well, it is not sports car fast but i can say it is relatively fast, with 1425kg in weight. If you floor the accelerator pedal, no tyre spinning will happen caz of traction control and VSC, you don't get to spin the tyre. Then if you look at dashboard, the speed shown will jump quite fast and suddenly, you reached 150km/h. The CVT for Prius is using timing chain so no replacement nor rubber effect will be detected; transmission fluid is WS grade so no need to change within the lifespan of the car, but if you want to get it replace every 100k km, be my guess. It is exceptionally quiet, smooth, powerful and not so fun to drive like manual or DSG/DCT but if you opt for something comfortable for you and ur passenger, or piece of mind during busy traffic period, CVT is a very good choice.
Altis's CVT is 7 speed but Toyota has made a kinda funny "features" and for some reasonss, UMW added a simulated gear changing sound whenever you press the gas pedal to imitate the gear changing incident like normal AT has, but you dun get the feel of gear changing but only the gear changing sound. For CVT, gear ration basically is quite wide, though Altis's cvt is 7 speed but still, because of the unique characteristics of cvt, gear changing can't really be felt. This 7 speed cvt is relatively smooth, no jerky nor lag in power, easy control and transmission of power is almost instant, whenever you press the gas pedal, the engine and transmission will feed the car up to the speed that you want, say overtaking other vehicle is easy, no delay and fast.
Between car with AT, DSG/DCT and cvt, i will go for cvt over the other 2 options. Only if the reliability and durability of DSG/DCT has significant improved, no way i will go for it though they are the most fun to drive. No offense to P1, but my dad's saga also have the same behavior like you have described. Once compare with the CVT in Prius and Altis, i am curious as well why so much different between Toyota and P1.

This is what i don't really understand why Toyota put the simulated gear changing sound, perhaps to ease the perception/curiosity/neverouness of driver in general regarding though AT, it will give you the sound (not the feel) of gear changing in AT but not CVT.
As for the CVT transmission, it does have certain sets of gear ratio (could be from 1.12 to 2.113 as for example for first gear/first set). It is wider and the ECU will have it selected as according to the input from driver (depends on the speed), which is different the AT with fixed gear ration. 7-speed CVT means it has a upper and lower gear ration to be selected as according to the input from driver, not really the definition of infinite as in math.
I am not sure about other variant of Altis caz here in MY we have 3 models, 1.8E, 2.0G & 2.0V, and i only find the simulated sound in 2.0V. To be honest, i find it really funny and something like "extra piece of fish" (in cantonese).....

Hmmm, not getting the info from UMW but some of the 3rd generation pre-FL Prius owners went to inspect the transmission fluid and turn out it is still relatively clean. And also my Prius too, approaching 80k km and the fluid still can be considered as like new. I am not sure why, but compare to Camry and Vios, i realize Vios's transmission fluid tend to getting dirty and replacement of fluid needed like every 50k-60k. My last ride, Vios, i found the transmission fluid to be relatively dirty after just 60k km.
For my opinion, if after inspection and found the transmission fluid is dirty, get it replace. Overall cost will be less than RM500 including labor and new transmission fluid.

good info bro, btw, i will attach the simulated gear switching/changing of Altis's cvt. Pay attention about 2:00 onward:



Well, i can't tell for sure for every cvt, because there are many different setting of cvt, please refer to the link below for the variances of cvt as according to different manufacturer. For Toyota & Nissan, these 2 are adapting not so convention cvt set up as their CVTs are made up of a pulley system, with cones at each pulley, all connected by a chain belt. These cones move closer together or further apart to increase or decrease the diameter at which the belt operates. The ratio here is important, and is selected automatically based on factors like gas pedal position, vehicle speed and engine speed.

What all this means is that a CVT doesn’t shift at all like a traditional gearbox. The ratios are always changing in order to find the perfect combination for speed, fuel efficiency or both. They even come with buttons/OD/paddle swifter to help shift between pre-set ratios which helps mimic a traditional automatic. 



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuously_...le_transmission

I am interesting to know more about Honda's cvt, Audi's multitronic or even Mitsubishi's INVECS. Different manufacturer has different setting on their cvt transmission which the philosophy behind is really interesting.

This post has been edited by briantft: Aug 14 2014, 03:23 PM

Great, thanks for the info bro. I can't tell the different in terms of mechanical set up of torque converter or wet clutch but if compare between Altis and saga, saga's cvt is really jerky and inefficient. I almost thought saga is using normal 4-speed AT instead of cvt. For the complaints regarding CVT, may be due to manufacturer's defect, may be due to the driver's bios perception and expectation or even, they though CVT is like AT, should have the push/gear changing feel and sound and so on. Even me, when i just got my Prius, i even called back to service center ask if the transmission was something wrong caz i can't hear or feel any gear changing. It takes time to get familiar with cvt caz it is really different than AT.