I've heard from a reviewer that CVT caused problems during a sand pass. They said that even with full throttle the car couldn't pass easily deep sand or worst it stuck there.
So my question is
Is it better to have CVT or usual auto transmission or even better manual?
What happens in snow and mud with CVT?

dpilot - What more have you got on this? Has me a bit worried, as my main use of this vehicle would be on beaches on Texas Gulf Coast and Cape Hatteras National Seashore. Was this a written review somewhere? Any further info appreciated.
walt

Duhh, also.....most folks would air down to 17 - 20 and take it slow in sand, so I don't really understand re the "even with full throttle.....". Like I say, any further info appreciated.
Thanks again,
walt

I remember reading something similar but I thought it was more a result of an incorrect ESP setting than CVT problem.

I don't know about sand or mud, but i know it will handle snow just fine. I have had mine out in about 3-5 inches of snow and it was no problem at all. I don't have the trail rated model, just FD1.

Somewhere on this site (and others) is a video of a group of Compasses wheeling on beach in Washington or Oregon. You might want to check it out.

During the Car and Driver test of the Compass they took it some sand dunes and it did fine.

It was also strange for me cause I 've seen a lot of videos showing the abilities of Patriot in sand but I don't know if it was with manual or CVT.

In regard to the reviewer I referred before, they had a Compass with CVT and they said that the CVT "strangle" the engine and although they had full throttle the engine revs are at the most at 2000. (I don't know if this is good or bad but considering that max torque is available at 4400 then it sounds bad)

Also they mentioned that the car PASSED the sand test but failed to climb a dune even if they started with speed

With a second reading I 've noticed that the car stuck in sand due to low vehicle clearance

PS: I know that every 4x4 can stuck in sand due to driver's inability or other difficulties

from
http://www.expeditionswest.com/equipment/reviews/patriot/index.htm
Deep Sand: Get the RPM's up to 2,000 and the Patriot plays in the sand like an ATV. I tried the hills with 4wd lock on and off and it works well in both modes. I preferred 4wd lock off and in low gear with ESP off, which allowed more wheel spin. And this was all with street pressures in the tires.

Reading this I assume that at least the trail rated version has no problem with CVT2L and sand

Maybe the normal CVT has different results

I've heard from a reviewer that CVT caused problems during a sand pass. They said that even with full throttle the car couldn't pass easily deep sand or worst it stuck there.
So my question is
Is it better to have CVT or usual auto transmission or even better manual?
What happens in snow and mud with CVT?

I read a review of the compass that said the exact opposite. They were climbing sand dunes and said that the way the cvt adjusts torque got them up better than what they believed a traditional transmission would have. If they got stuck on a snad dune they probably either didnt know what they were doing or the problem wasnt with the tranny. Read the expiditions west review. They tested the patriot off road for an entire month and gave rave reviews for its performance.

fyi:- from the expeditions west review:

Get the RPM's up to 2,000 and the Patriot plays in the sand like an ATV. I tried the hills with 4wd lock on and off and it works well in both modes. I preferred 4wd lock off and in low gear with ESP off, which allowed more wheel spin. And this was all with street pressures in the tires.

.....

The snow continued to accumulate and the different challenges showed how each vehicle performs. This cambered turn put both the Rubicon and the Power Wagon in a rocky ditch, but the Patriot was light enough to stay on the ledge and make the turn

.....

We finally made the saddle and nearly 7,000 feet, where the snow was over 12" deep in places. The smooth undercairage and a little momentum allowed the Patriot to continue to plow through.

as you can noticed from my last post I've read the expeditions west review but this is reffered to FDII with off-road package
For me that's fine cause I want to buy the FDII but I was wondering what are the limits for normal CVT and normal Patriot which is the same with Compass
In regard to the reviewer that had problem with sand dune maybe you are right and they didn't know how to work the CVT

Personally I don't think there'd be any problems with the CVT in sand or snow where the tires need to spin (paddle) their way through to maintian forward momentum.

The only difference between the FD1 and FD2 CTV's is (assumidly) the pulley sizes that allow for the different ratios.... Thus if FD2 is good, why wouldn't FD1 be any different in these situations?

Of course - I'm not thinking about the ground clearance differance