Found in Subaru’s 2015 WRX.

Non-car nerds: CVT – Continuous Variable Transmission, a new type of engine that’s en vogue. Instead of fixed, mechanical gears, it uses a belt that can be programmed to have an infinite number of gears.

You can identify a CVT in 2 ways:

1 – when you stomp on the gas, it’s one second two second, and then the engine kicks in and launches

2 – the high-pitched, loud whine it emits

That whine is the sound of “improved fuel economy”, which is why automakers are switching to them; CVTs claim better fuel consumption than their mechanical counterpart.

I don’t like CVTs because of points #1 and 2.

But Subaru masked the loud whine, and instead there’s a little boxer engine growl, and they definitely solved the launch lag, because over and again I was, “woah I’m at 80 already? Nice.”