2007 Nissan Versa Review: Road Test

That's not to say a CVT is not as good as a conventional transmission, but it is different. It delivers a much smoother drive as there are no gears or inefficient hydraulics involved. Instead, a series of belts are used to vary the drive ratio between the engine and the drive train. It works more efficiently than a traditional automatic, which is why the Versa equipped with a CVT delivers the best highway mileage. Around town it even has the same economy as one with a manual transmission.

Incidentally, although Nissan is offering a regular four-speed automatic transmission it intends to drop that in favor of just the CVT in the near future. Naturally, it will continue to offer a six-speed manual transmission for those who enjoy shifting.

As Nissan intends the CVT Versa to be the most popular model in the range that is the one we spent time driving. From the word go we were pleased with our experience in the car. It had plenty of zip and there was no problem merging into traffic on a fast free-flowing freeway. When you stomp on the gas pedal the sound of the engine revving instantly before the car accelerates can be a bit disconcerting to some. We found it not unpleasant, in fact it sounds kind of fun. Of course in regular stop-and-go traffic under slow acceleration there is no sensation other than the car moving forward smoothly with no sound or feel of shifting gears. It's certainly a far cry from the notch gear shifting that used to be all too common on small four-cylinder cars with automatics.