Complete Newbie...

[Datpinoyguy]

Hi guys, I'm completely new to car modifications, I recently bought a 19 Honda Civic Hatch CVT (i know im sorry if i disappoint most of you) but I've been seeing people talk about Ktuner or Hondata. Is it possible for a cvt to get a good tune from it? and if yes is it worth to spend money on it as a first modification for my car? Thank ya'll. *please be gentle*

Sponsored

 

[oberstja]

Welcome to the forum. I've been using a stage 2 tune on my CVT hatch for the past couple of months and it's made my driving experience a lot more exciting. KTuner gives you a lot of options which is something I really appreciate and 100% believe makes it worth the purchase. You won't regret it.

 

[Datpinoyguy]

Welcome to the forum. I've been using a stage 2 tune on my CVT hatch for the past couple of months and it's made my driving experience a lot more exciting. KTuner gives you a lot of options which is something I really appreciate and 100% believe makes it worth the purchase. You won't regret it.

Can i just jump to stage 2 tune? Or i still need to get stage 1? And no dyno needed for the tune right? Thank you so much for your time answering my newbie questions.

 

[Daniel644]

I personally don't understand why people would hate on the CVT, this car is a freaking Go Cart with the CVT, you hit it, it goes then the Turbo kicks in after a few seconds and you scoot even faster, the performance of this car is plenty. Yeah sure there is a limit on how far you can push the car if you have the CVT, but the tuners know that and they have those limits set, I did research into tuning before I bought mine but ultimately after driving it for a few days I decided the thing ran fine and there was no reason to risk pushing the CVT to close to its limits, I want this thing to last, not drop a tranny after a few years, I've had to get transmissions replaced in 2 cars i've owned over the years, just not worth pushing it IMHO.

 

[Datpinoyguy]

I personally don't understand why people would hate on the CVT, this car is a freaking Go Cart with the CVT, you hit it, it goes then the Turbo kicks in after a few seconds and you scoot even faster, the performance of this car is plenty. Yeah sure there is a limit on how far you can push the car if you have the CVT, but the tuners know that and they have those limits set, I did research into tuning before I bought mine but ultimately after driving it for a few days I decided the thing ran fine and there was no reason to risk pushing the CVT to close to its limits, I want this thing to last, not drop a tranny after a few years, I've had to get transmissions replaced in 2 cars i've owned over the years, just not worth pushing it IMHO.

So you mean like wear and tear for the transmission? It's a daily driver, but sometimes I just want to step on it, and i was guessing that a tune will make it a bit more fun to drive. I havent driven it aggressively since im scared i might break something *shrugs*

 

[Daniel644]

So you mean like wear and tear for the transmission? It's a daily driver, but sometimes I just want to step on it, and i was guessing that a tune will make it a bit more fun to drive. I havent driven it aggressively since im scared i might break something *shrugs*

the CVT has a limit on how much horsepower it can handle before you will cause significant premature wear and failure, you see this when you look at the websites that sell the tunes, they have a higher PSI tune you can run on the manual trans then on the CVT because the CVT just can't handle the power, thats why the different "stages" list the transmissions they are meant for, like for example on the Hondata site you go to the Dyno tab https://www.hondata.com/flashpro-2016-civic and you see the +9 PSI 91 Octane is ONLY for the Manual and even then they warn it can cause the stock clutch to slip, they don't do anything more then a +6 PSI over stock for the CVT and if you search on here you will find threads of early tuning where people pushed the CVT to far and destroyed it like this one https://www.civicx.com/threads/cvt-failure-details-inside.40889/

to me a little extra HP and faster Turbo Spool up and Speed Limiter Removal isn't worth it, hell I haven't even taken the car to 80 MPH yet, this thing is my daily and i've got 3 years of payments to go, i'm not gonna risk borking something up for a little faster turbo spool, hell if you are driving for fuel efficiency (which is what you IMHO should be doing with a daily driver civic) you aren't gonna spend that much time in the boost to begin with, remember the heavier your foot the lower your MPG. Me personally on the rare occurrence I need to punch it I find it's power to be plenty. But thats me, they say the entry level tunes are safe, but remember if you live somewhere with emmisions testing you'll need to flash back to stock before doing the testing.

 

[charleswrivers]

I recently bought a 19 Honda Civic Hatch CVT (i know im sorry if i disappoint most of you)

Congrats. No disappointment from the Si owner here, if that's what you wanted.

I've been seeing people talk about Ktuner or Hondata.

Ok.

Is it possible for a cvt to get a good tune from it?

Yes.

is it worth to spend money on it as a first modification for my car

Yes. I'd argue it's the best modification... regardless of what trim/engine you have for our cars in the bang-for-the-buck category... "ease of install" and also "ease of removal" if you ever want to make the car stock again.

Suggestion: @gtman has a few long-term test threads as a CVT owner... has had both Hondata and Ktuner. Has dabbled in the gentler reflashes and went to the hotter ones. Search for some of his longer threads that pertain to this and read up. You'll be well educated on the subject in a short amount of time. If you still have questions, come back to this thread and ask away or if ask it on those threads if it seems pertinent to those threads (99% your questions will be as they exist to be informational).

 

[shoegazer]

So you mean like wear and tear for the transmission? It's a daily driver, but sometimes I just want to step on it, and i was guessing that a tune will make it a bit more fun to drive. I havent driven it aggressively since im scared i might break something *shrugs*

If you're worried that much; my suggestion would be to just keep it stock and actually do 'step on it' when you feel the need. I imagine you would have less fear of damaging anything when you're still well within the parameters of the stock design.

I have a 2.0 CVT. And as much as I dislike the idea of it; 'eco mode' yields the smoothest results for me with the engine and transmission. When I want to 'step on it'; I ditch the eco mode or pull it into sport mode. It works for me. But I drive conservatively.

Good luck however you decide to go.

 

[daniellee789]

the CVT has a limit on how much horsepower it can handle before you will cause significant premature wear and failure, you see this when you look at the websites that sell the tunes, they have a higher PSI tune you can run on the manual trans then on the CVT because the CVT just can't handle the power, thats why the different "stages" list the transmissions they are meant for, like for example on the Hondata site you go to the Dyno tab https://www.hondata.com/flashpro-2016-civic and you see the +9 PSI 91 Octane is ONLY for the Manual and even then they warn it can cause the stock clutch to slip, they don't do anything more then a +6 PSI over stock for the CVT and if you search on here you will find threads of early tuning where people pushed the CVT to far and destroyed it like this one https://www.civicx.com/threads/cvt-failure-details-inside.40889/

to me a little extra HP and faster Turbo Spool up and Speed Limiter Removal isn't worth it, hell I haven't even taken the car to 80 MPH yet, this thing is my daily and i've got 3 years of payments to go, i'm not gonna risk borking something up for a little faster turbo spool, hell if you are driving for fuel efficiency (which is what you IMHO should be doing with a daily driver civic) you aren't gonna spend that much time in the boost to begin with, remember the heavier your foot the lower your MPG. Me personally on the rare occurrence I need to punch it I find it's power to be plenty. But thats me, they say the entry level tunes are safe, but remember if you live somewhere with emmisions testing you'll need to flash back to stock before doing the testing.

Damn, I need to start driving like you lol I always step on it haha. A lot of times, I'll just drive without really thinking and end up going over 100 on the highway, which was not even possible in my 2004 Corolla unless I REALLY stepped on it and tried.

 

[yhkwok]

If you're worried that much; my suggestion would be to just keep it stock and actually do 'step on it' when you feel the need. I imagine you would have less fear of damaging anything when you're still well within the parameters of the stock design.

I have a 2.0 CVT. And as much as I dislike the idea of it; 'eco mode' yields the smoothest results for me with the engine and transmission. When I want to 'step on it'; I ditch the eco mode or pull it into sport mode. It works for me. But I drive conservatively.

Good luck however you decide to go.

That's exactly my approach. More power is certainly more fun, but consider if you really need it at the moment, have you draw the "potential" of the current setup yet? Afterall the tune does cost money, I wouldn't spend it until the current power can't satisfy me anymore. But it's just me.

 

[U.S.C]

Around here there isn’t much hate on the CVT. No reason to hate it lol. I have raced many Manuel’s and beat them with the small mods I have.

Yes the it’s worth every penny. 100% but as a first mode I probably would do an intake but that’s just me.

 

[Daniel644]

Damn, I need to start driving like you lol I always step on it haha. A lot of times, I'll just drive without really thinking and end up going over 100 on the highway, which was not even possible in my 2004 Corolla unless I REALLY stepped on it and tried.

very easy to do something like that with the CVT and the lack of shift points, but I adjusted pretty quickly. one way to train yourself is to see how long you can keep that accent bar green for instead of white. Also set the dash to show the instant MPG graph and do everything you can to keep it on the high side of 40 except for those starting from a dead stops or climbing the mountains.

 

[swah_fk7]

the CVT has a limit on how much horsepower it can handle before you will cause significant premature wear and failure, you see this when you look at the websites that sell the tunes, they have a higher PSI tune you can run on the manual trans then on the CVT because the CVT just can't handle the power, thats why the different "stages" list the transmissions they are meant for, like for example on the Hondata site you go to the Dyno tab https://www.hondata.com/flashpro-2016-civic and you see the +9 PSI 91 Octane is ONLY for the Manual and even then they warn it can cause the stock clutch to slip, they don't do anything more then a +6 PSI over stock for the CVT and if you search on here you will find threads of early tuning where people pushed the CVT to far and destroyed it like this one https://www.civicx.com/threads/cvt-failure-details-inside.40889/

to me a little extra HP and faster Turbo Spool up and Speed Limiter Removal isn't worth it, hell I haven't even taken the car to 80 MPH yet, this thing is my daily and i've got 3 years of payments to go, i'm not gonna risk borking something up for a little faster turbo spool, hell if you are driving for fuel efficiency (which is what you IMHO should be doing with a daily driver civic) you aren't gonna spend that much time in the boost to begin with, remember the heavier your foot the lower your MPG. Me personally on the rare occurrence I need to punch it I find it's power to be plenty. But thats me, they say the entry level tunes are safe, but remember if you live somewhere with emmisions testing you'll need to flash back to stock before doing the testing.

"The cvt has a limit on how much TORQUE**** it can handle. Fixed it for ya.

 

[swah_fk7]

OP, as somebody who had a CVT 1.5T Sport Touring hatchback, the heaviest of them all,
don't fear modding your car. As long as you don't do some crazy custom tune you'll be fine. the Out-the-box KTUNER basemaps get the job done plenty fine.
My 2017 hatchback was 26 psi after 3rd "gear" and was full bolt-ons minus FlexFuel Kit.
I drove the shit out of that car from day 1 and I put 37k miles on it before I got rid of her.
They're a lot less sensitive than you think.

 

[daniellee789]

very easy to do something like that with the CVT and the lack of shift points, but I adjusted pretty quickly. one way to train yourself is to see how long you can keep that accent bar green for instead of white. Also set the dash to show the instant MPG graph and do everything you can to keep it on the high side of 40 except for those starting from a dead stops or climbing the mountains.

The closest I've ever gotten to 40mpg or over is around 36 - 37, and that's with me having eco boost and having the ACC set to around 80 mph on an about 2 hour drive up to Atlanta. Even on ecoboost I still mash the shit out of the pedal haha

Sponsored