Toyota Corolla S and new CVT

Source: 2015 Toyota Corolla S Premium Review

The Corolla S’s CVT automatic transmission with Sport Mode and steering wheel paddle shifters is what sets the S apart from the other models. The CVT offers seven ratios, though by definition, a continuously variable transmission contains no gears.

Toyota engineers were able to mimic the effects of selecting a lower gear when downshifting manually.​

So I checked at www.fueleconomy.gov to see what Corollas are doing now:

	2003 Prius	2015 Corolla Eco	2015 Corolla	metric
1	41	42	38	highway MPG
2	42	30	29	city MPG
3	41	35	32	combined MPG
4	89	98	98	passenger volume ft{3}
5	12	13	13	luggage volume ft{3}
6	$4	000	$19	000	$18	000	current price (*)

* - sorry, just love the inverted hybrid premium irony!

What stirred my interest was the paper "Development of New Continuously Variable Transmission for 2.0-Liter Class Vehicles", Jun Hakamagi, Tetsuya Komo, Ryoji Habuchi, Naoki Nishimura, Masahiro Tawara, and Naoki Tamura (SAE 2015-01-1101). I wasn't aware that Toyota had been pursuing belt-CVTs but Wiki soon identified they are most often found in non-USA vehicles except for the Corolla. So I took a second look.

Now if a dense, electric motor system could replace the torque converter, a very interesting, hybrid-lite might emerge.

Bob Wilson

 

The IMA could not disconnect from the engine. Also, the poor control-laws for North America was the Honda problem.

A single motor of modest power is all it takes provided it can disconnect from the ICE.

Bob Wilson