Engine/Transmission Question
 

In your opinion/experience, which engine do you think will have more trouble-free miles ??

A) Normally-aspirated 3.7L V-6 (I believe it's a Ford powerplant)
B) Turbocharged 2.5L in-line four

Transmission:

A) 6-speed automatic
B) CVT (the latest CVT in the Nissan Murano....guess what I'm trying to figure out is if those Nissan CVTs are beefy/reliable enough to handle their V-6)

I have NO experience with turbos.

In fact, the only turbo I've ever driven was a Saab 900 back in the early '90s. While fun-to-drive, especially up in the mountains of Colorado where I was passing normally-aspirated cars left and right, the replacement of its turbo was ridonkulous.....like $1200 iirc....JUST FOR THE PART !!

I'm wondering if the today's turbos are better than the ones back then. With proper care, how long do I expect one to last ??

I'm thinking also that today's synthetic oils are WAY better equipped to handle the stress and extreme heat of such devices.

:dunno::dunno:

CVTs are awful. Stay away.

And a turbo will pretty much always be less reliable than an N/A motor. More parts to fail. But they are pretty durable these days.

:+1 to both.

Need to know more about engine architecture. Compression ratio. Hydraulic or solid lifter? Timing chain or belt? Manufacturer service requirements, etc..

We are talking minivan/SUV engines. :p I'm pretty confident that there won't be any solid lifters.

Yeah, I threw that in for (my own) fun. :lol:

For someone that insists on rowing their own gears, it's not going to be a fun experience. But these transmissions have gotten better in recent years, such that I wouldn't any longer accept a blanket, unqualified "they're awful" statement.

I haven't driven a Nissan with a CVT, but the Honda units aren't bad at all. I have extensive experience with the Accord CVT (owned previous to the Pilot), and it was surprisingly good. I'd take that over a regular geared slushie any day. Seriously. It's a different experience, but it's not worse.

I do have concerns about longevity and durability of CVTs, but only because I'm not informed enough about the inner-workings to know if it's a weak point in the drivetrain.

I've driven a recent Nissan CVT. It managed to combine all of the annoyances of a CVT with all of the annoyances of an automatic - including FAKE GEARS. Yes, that right. Fake gears. Because people complained about the monotonous buzzing of a CVT, they decided to try to give it pretend gears so that it felt more like a traditional automatic.

Noooooooooooo!!! :banghead: