the only way I think a cvt is better is in the snow. On my past gear shift atvs I was always wound out or bogged down. Where an auto you get the wheel speed to power thru. I'd imagine the same is for deep mud. But it doesn't seem to be as prevalent on the sxs, even the 700 I can power thru just about anything.DirtTrax has always been way too excited about CVTs. Honda's transmissions are better in every conceivable way than any CVT.