What makes the CVTs Fuel Efficiency Lower?
As you can see in the comparison chart above, the CVT Insight’s fuel efficiency is lower than that of the 5-speed version. The CVT’s city efficiency is about 7% lower, while the highway efficiency is 18% lower. Part of this is due to the CVT transmission itself. While the CVT transmission allows for greater efficiency than a normal automatic, it still doesn’t allow for the level of efficiency that is possible with a manual transmission. While the transmission itself plays a role, there is another factor at play here. As mentioned above, the CVT Insight incorporates a number of design decisions that put more emphasis on low levels of emissions measured by California LEV/ULEV/SULEV standards, than on fuel efficiency. One of the biggest decisions here was the elimination of lean-burn mode. Lean-burn mode allows the 5-speed Insight to operate on air-fuel mixtures containing nearly half as much fuel as normally used. The 5-speed Insight uses Learn-burn mode is used when cruising under light
