I have a 2005 R50 with a CVT tranny. She has 45k on her now.

Just wondering how many owners out there HAVE NOT had an issue with their CVT. PLease post your year and miles.

I only hear about the CVT nightmares. There MUST be high mileage problem free CVTs out there right?

 

I was going to make a joke about there not being any replies to your request, but it's only been up for 6 minutes...

 

Very funny but I hope there are some out there!


There has to be CVTs with no issued. Not all of them failed I hope. I just think we hear more about the failures.

 

25k miles and nervous.

 

My sister's '02 has about 44k on it, no troubles yet.

 

my brothers has 03 with 58,000 and no issues at all so far.

 

2004 R50 36K. It works fine.
Have an EW so I'm not worrying if it breaks down any time soon. Had it serviced when I got the car last July and plan to have it serviced every 20K to 30K as extra insurance.

 

2003MCA. Bought New. Only 24K miles. CVT problem free. Will be
having the CVT fluid changed this Spring.

 

'06 CVT with almost 45k - works perfectly - seems to get the most out of the naturally aspirated engine. Will be looking into extended warranty soon cause I know I will be getting nervous.

 

2003 MCA 69k... nothing yet, but very nervous!

 

78,000 no problem miles - I really think most of the problems have been fluid issues, fluid needs to be changed every 28,000 miles if the fluid breaks down and the CVT overheats it's over.

 

Yeah, change your fluid at least every 25K miles and you should be fine. We owned a 2002 R50 CVT for nearly 6 years and 44K miles with no problems. Car was sold to a fellow NAMer about a year ago (I still keep in touch with him) and as far as I know the car is happily carving the SoCal canyons.

 

'05, 16K miles, no problems, but I have an extended warranty just in case.

 

Just traded 04 with 70k miles with no problems. Regular fluid changes. But the CVT did play a major roll in trading for 03 R53 with 6 speed.

 

72k with no problems *knock on wood*.

Can I buy the fluid to do the changes myself? If so, does anyone know what kind?

 

We have a pair of 2006 Coopers with CVT.

41,000 miles on the PW.

39,000 miles on the CR.

At the risk of jinxing myself, no problems with either to date.

 

03 with 92,000 and going strong

 

165500 miles. Transmission oil change at 100k, no other issues. Good Luck.

 

^^^^^You probably have one of the highest mile CVTs around!

 

I hope mine holds up that long. WOW! Your MINI has been good to u!!

 

76000 03 cvt still going strong changed fluid at 50k

 

My wife's '05 CVT has 135,000 miles. Only problem with the car has been when our daughter almost killed her boyfriend and almost totaled the car. They redid the car and it's still doing just fine.

My wife drives the car VERY conservatively and since we live in the boondocks, they are almost all highway miles.

 

I did not state mines a 2003 non-s, bought new. Mileage is about 90% highway. Maybe high temp city driving is what "cooks" the CVT. Also live out in the country. Thanks.

 

I have a 2004 6 speed CVT with 59, 500 miles. No problems, I love kicking it into Sport Drive and leaving some ********* truck driver with their mouth hanging open. CVT fluid changed at 37K and I'll do it again next month at 60K. I think the key is regular fluid changes. I've seen this post before and I'll go back and get my response to it and post it here.

 

(For all you CVT owners that are nervous, this is a post I made about a year ago. Show me the facts!)

Everyone has an opinion on the CVT's and everyone is entitled to their opinion. I'd like to see the facts! What are the facts on the CVT failures? How many have failed verses how many have been sold? What are the percentages and how do these compare to other transmissions?

Without the FACTS it's all hearsay, and hearsay evidence is not only unreliable it's just plain BS. So who has the facts? BMW? Mini Cooper? Somebody out there knows for sure what the percentage of failures vs percentage sold is.

Now, barring any good hard concrete numbers let me postulate a little theory here. I have a CVT. I also got an extended warranty for my Mini out to 100K. I took out the extended warranty as soon as my dealer warranty ran out at $42,000 miles. The extended warranty covers everything, including the complete cost of replacement for the CVT, which is $7-8K. Now if the CVT's were as unreliable and failure prone as the "experts" on this site say; do you think the extended warranty companies would insure them? If CVT's were failing at even a 12-15% of all sold rate, I doubt that the warranty companies would sell 100% repair warranties for $1500. It simply would not be cost effective for them.

When I bought my extended warranty there were two questions I made sure I asked. The first question was, "Is the CVT transmission replacement covered"? The answer was "yes". The second question I asked was, "Do the CVT's have a high failure rate?", her answer was, "Not any higher than any other transmission. We couldn't afford to insure them if it did."

So why does everyone fear the CVT so much? Because it's different, everyone talks about it. It's like a snowball rolling downhill. You don't hear from the folks with Manual transmissions that have failed, and you don't hear from folks with CVT's that haven't failed. They are still out there, some with 100K+ miles on them.

Ok, so this long winded post is designed to put this overly debated controversy to rest....but it won't until we get the facts. Anyone out there with REAL numbers......?