Some are more tolerable than others. The new Corolla is AWFUL with one. Just completely ruins the car. Hondas are not too bad, but the newer ones are fragile... I just did one on a 2014 Civic. $6500 from Honda. We put a used one in... still a 9 hr job. And it did not even make it 100k miles.
The few that Audi sold here in FWD A4s and A6s perform OK, but they were so problematic there was a lawsuit and a warranty extension for them.
Nissans are junk. Now they are merely less junky, but still a high failure rate. The early Versas were pretty much a 100% failure rate. We serviced a fleet of those turds for a security company.
The worst one, by far, is the little Mitsubishi Mirage. Seriously, I cannot recall a worse car than that, and 90% of it is because of the CVT. The ChryCo ones are pretty abysmal, too. Caliber, Compass, Patriot. Those tie for second place worst beside the Subaru CVTs for bad driveability.
Toyota's hybrids are fine, but they work completely differently. They are not a chain/cone type, but a planetary type that works in conjunction with the motor/generator. Essentially a Ford Model T transmission, only instead of a leather belt and drum, a disc with magnets.
The general durability, or lack thereof, in most CVTs, is why they are still staying away from them in higher load applications. Instead going for ever increasing numbers of available fixed ratios, with some pretty clever shift mapping to make them work well. 10 speeds are out now, with even higher numbers planned. But these do not use all the ratios all the time, only under certain conditions.
