Mechanical gearbox??

[JohnD2]

Hello. I believe the Hyundai Kona is a similar vehicle (size etc) to the Yaris Cross. A friend who owns such, read to me from his owner's manual that there is a mechanical gearbox, enabling the automatic selection of different ratios, in the design of the drive train. Is there anything similar in the drive train of Toyota designs?

[FROSTYBALLS]

The new 2023 Kona is actually more the size of the current (2016-2023) C-HR. Whereas the Bayon is in the same market sector as the Yaris Cross.

[CPN]

33 minutes ago, JohnD2 said:

Hello. I believe the Hyundai Kona is a similar vehicle (size etc) to the Yaris Cross. A friend who owns such, read to me from his owner's manual that there is a mechanical gearbox, enabling the automatic selection of different ratios, in the design of the drive train. Is there anything similar in the drive train of Toyota designs?

In a word, no. Toyota's solution is unique to them and does not employ a mechanical gearbox of any kind. It employs what they term a "Power Split Device" which employs a system of sun & planetary gears amongst other things.

Note: Just because they call it an eCVT (electronic constant velocity transmission) does not mean that it bears any resemblance to a traditional CVT using belts and pulleys either.

Check out this video here and it will explain...

[Cyker]

I do wish they'd come up with a different name for it or just called it a HSD 'gearbox' as the eCVT thing is the main reason for so much misinformation! I kinda get why they did that, as it does act a lot like a CVT, but the workings are entirely different!

 

I think the Kona hybrid just has a normal automated-manual gearbox (I forget if it's a single or double-clutch system, and CBA to look it up  )

The electric Kona is one of the best (or least-worst) EVs on the market right now and has decent range and good efficiency, so per kWh it can go further than most competitors models.

The hybrid version doesn't have much going for it - I  may be a bit biased, but IMHO the Toyota ones blow them out of the water, and are much more efficient and refined.

That said I don't know about the newer one - Not seen one in real life, but in pictures it looks massive compared to the original one!

[MikeSh]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

Not seen one in real life, but in pictures it looks massive compared to the original one!

I had an original Kona EV. Lots of people thought/think it's a massive SUV, but it's not actually that big. It's taller than the Yaris but similar width (over the mirrors - both fit in the garage with about 1" each side clear) and maybe 6" longer than our MK3.

For some reason I could never reverse park it straight in a bay, and I wasn't the only one. Some weird optics I guess, so it had to go ...

[YarisHybrid2016]

The Toyota system is the reason they are so good.

Everyone else insists on using gearboxes still, so you have all the reliability problems associated with automated transmissions, plus the complexity of added clutches for their motor drives. Many of the competitor hybrids are only part-time, and are frankly absolute box-ticking rubbish.

[Cyker]

12 hours ago, MikeSh said:

I had an original Kona EV. Lots of people thought/think it's a massive SUV, but it's not actually that big. It's taller than the Yaris but similar width (over the mirrors - both fit in the garage with about 1" each side clear) and maybe 6" longer than our MK3.

For some reason I could never reverse park it straight in a bay, and I wasn't the only one. Some weird optics I guess, so it had to go ...

I'd say it's closer to an Auris in terms of foot-print, but yeah, not too big.

It gave me a great deal of hope for EVs when it came out, as it was so close to what I wanted (less than 4m long; Kona is about 4.2m, over 300 miles of range; Kona EV could do 280-ish IIRC, and it even had a HUD and the paddles for changing regen levels was total genius), but then... that was it.

I think every EV that has come out after the Kona has been worse - Bigger, heavier, worse miles/kWh, worse real-world range, more stupid gimicks than substance etc. and almost none of them apart from the ones with mahoosive batteries and that cost more than an entire family's life savings even come close to the real world range of the original Kona EV.

Considering it cost about the same as a GR Yaris when it came out, it was very reasonably priced to for such a capable EV!

So now I'm back resigned to waiting long term for someone to make one that isn't stupid. Even worse, the bar to beat is much higher now since I got the Mk4, given I'm getting over 400 miles out of 26L of fuel! I don't think any EV can match it for cost per mile using public chargers right now - The only way they can is if they can be charged at home, and even then it's not far off unless they one of the chosen few who've gotten on e.g. Octopus' super cheap 'night charging' rates (Which turns out is not so good if you use power in the daytime!! Is perfect if you have solar panels tho'...!)

[MikeSh]

2 hours ago, Cyker said:

I'd say it's closer to an Auris in terms of foot-print

Probably about right.

On the ev forum I used when I had it people were banging on about it being a huge suv thing ... until I pointed out it has a smaller footprint than a Nissan Leaf. That made a few of them blink.

Like you say the Kona electric is a brilliant car. But the charging network is too rubbish to stray far off the main routes without being clever, so no good for SWMBO, and we do so little mileage it made more sense to cash out and let someone else make use of the bigger manufacturing eco footprint. It was a bucket list thing really - duly ticked.

[JD2]

Thank you all: most instructive. The main point for my mind is the smooth delivery of power.

[MikeSh]

26 minutes ago, JD2 said:

The main point for my mind is the smooth delivery of power.

BEV followed by Toyota HSD. Everything else will have some (even if minimal) uneveness during shifts. CVTs are usually smooth once moving but can be 'interesting?' when getting the car moving.

Automatic transmissions include the good, the bad and the extremely ogreish, and vary hugely between manufacturers and models/versions. (40 years experience.) Best to shortlist cars that might do for your needs and then test drive to see how 'smooth' they are.

[Cyker]

Totally agree; Nothing else has the same level of instant response and seamless power delivery you can get from EVs or the HSD.