I have seen poor owners of AGS, CVT, and DCT based vehicles get shocking surprises during their ownership. They get disappointed after facing issues with these transmissions, and I get sad when I see owners and their transmission failures or when they blame the vehicle for not performing as they intended and the problem was their transmission choice, not the vehicle itself. So, I am writing this to help people make an informed decision about the transmission choice before purchasing a vehicle.
1: Early Transmission Failure
These modern automatic transmissions are not as reliable as manual transmission or traditional 4-6 speed automatic transmissions. These new automatics can fail much earlier than you expect. You can prolong the life of the transmission by following some precautionary measures and changing driving behavior, which is different for each type of transmission, hence that's a topic of a different thread. For now, let's focus on ownership shocks.
In case of AGS, the clutch plates can fail as early as 20,000-30,000 km. On the positive side, complete transmission failure is not common for AGS. Premature clutch failure can happen with dry clutch DCT as well.
Early failures of CVT and DCT are observed between 60,000-100,000 km. You can search the PakWheels forums as a reference.
2: Transmission Repair/Replacement Cost
AGS clutch and pressure plates are easily replaceable, and they can be replaced for approx PKR 40,000 from Suzuki dealerships. I am not sure about the complete AGS transmission price since whole transmission failure is not common as mentioned previously. Similarly, clutch replacement for DCT could be done, but I am not sure about the cost. Honda Vezel owners can contribute here. Time will tell how far Changan’s DCT based vehicles can go.
When an issue is faced in CVT or DCT, dealerships will ask you to replace the transmission and according to them, it's not repairable and this is an international practice. Usually, dealerships don't repair CVTs and DCTs. New transmission won't be cheap. New Honda Civic CVT cost PKR 700,000 and Alsvin DCT cost PKR 1200,000 at the time of this writing.
There are transmission shops outside of Pakistan who rebuild CVTs, but first the shop will access the condition of the damage and provide estimates for labor and parts. Sometimes this cost get closer to new transmission. In such cases, it's better to replace the transmission. I am not aware of any good transmission rebuilding shop in Pakistan. If there's any, do let us know in this thread.
3: Transmission fluid is expensive
Gear oil for AGS, DCT and transmission fluid (referring CVTF as gear oil is wrong terminology) for CVT are very expensive when compared to gear oil for manual transmission and ATF for traditional automatics. They usually cost between PKR 7,000 - 15,000 at the time of this writing. Not only that, the frequency of the fluid change for CVT and DCT is much higher than manual transmission. Suzuki AGS and Alsvin DCT gear oil cost PKR 15,000 and Honda HCF-2 costs about PKR 7,000. Toyota CVT fluids also cost close to Honda.
4: DCT heats up in stop & go traffic
Usually people complain about transmission heat up issue in Alsvin, but this issue is common in all DCT based vehicles. If you don't let the vehicle release the clutch fully in stop and go driving, the clutch will heat up, and a warning sign will appear in the dashboard cluster. This issue can happen with Suzuki AGS as well, but Suzuki vehicles don't show any heat up indicator in the dashboard cluster. You can avoid this issue by adjusting your driving technique, specially in stop and go traffic. Avoid frequent accelerations and let the distance between your vehicle and the one in front of you increase. This should be done to give the transmission a chance to fully release the clutch. Apart from that, it's better to use manual/sports mode in such situations to avoid frequent changing of gears in stop and go traffic. If you don't use manual mode, the computer will not shift to lower gear and tries to pick speed by slipping the clutch.
5: AGS and DCT are jerky
Both AGS and DCT jerk in some driving situations, especially in low gears when you accelerate. It's more noticeable in slow moving traffic where you use brakes/accelerate frequently and specially with hard acceleration. This could be controlled with driving behavior as explained in point 4 above. Using manual mode and light acceleration reduce these jerks and when done properly could be eliminated. Remember, if the gear oil is cold, the jerk will stay no matter how you drive. It goes away once the gear oil warms up and with correct driving techniques.
6: CVT delay in initial acceleration
When people move from any other transmission to a CVT based vehicle for the first time, they don't like the initial acceleration of the vehicle. When you press the accelerator, the actual acceleration starts with slight delay. This is known as the rubber band effect. Many manufacturers have fine-tuned their transmissions to reduce this as much as possible. So it depends how much rubber band effect you face based on the vehicle you drive. Some have negligible for a common man, and some have a lot.
7: CVT don't climb hills with ease
There are a lot of complaints of fully loaded CVT vehicles not being able to climb very steep hills like Babusar Top in the Kaghan Valley. I remember one owner reported he had a hard time climbing a steep incline in the basement parking of some mall. CVT is not the favorite transmission for people who drive a lot in hilly areas.
Conclusion
All of these issues are not explained to fear you or the new car buyers. The point is to help you make an informed decision and choose the right transmission by knowing the common issues and maintenance and replacement (in case of failure) cost in advance, or leave these transmissions in the first place if you don’t want to spend hefty money on them.
Many people sacrifice the reliability, maintenance cost, fuel economy, less power (transmission power losses) for the ease of driving these transmissions provide when compared to manuals. It all comes down to personal preference.
