This has been discussed a lot on this forum. It's one of the things I don't really care for on our Ascent. I thought it was the torque converter engaging aggressively, but it's actually not. I've been watching the CVT ratios on the Active OBD app on my phone, and it's definitely the CVT adjusting to a lower ratio fairly quickly after first setting off. It starts at a ratio of about 2.45:1, and will quickly cinch down to about 1.2:1 or so on light acceleration. This is somewhere between the 3rd ratio in manual mode (about 1.38:1) and the 4th ratio in manual mode (about 1.10:1). So it's as if the transmission quickly upshifted from 1st speed to 3rd or 4th speed...which is something no stepped transmission would ever do. I think this is goofy. I understand aftermarket tuners fix this, but I'm not interested in that.
The more I tried to "work around" it, the more it would frustrate me. To get around the quick throttle response, I'd gently lean into the throttle to get going, and the CVT ratio change a few seconds after you get moving is most aggressive under these conditions. So I'd start with really light throttle, and then try to quickly ramp in with more throttle just as the ratio was starting to change. With some practice, that worked pretty well, and quickly increasing the throttle would stave off the aggressive ratio change...it was a "dance" that I had gotten fairly good at. I still thought it was goofy.
I noticed that my wife didn't have as much of a problem with this as me. She just puts the gas down and the car drives away fairly smoothly. So I tried just giving it more gas right from the off. That really seems to change the mapping for the better. I quickly move into an indicated 20-25% throttle (on the upper screen), and the CVT will let the engine flash up to about 2k RPM, but it'll keep it at about that speed as the car accelerates, rather than bogging the engine down with a sharp ratio change. I find it a lot easier to drive this way, rather than trying to time more throttle with the ratio change (to minimize it).
So for what it's worth for those who think this is goofy, who don't want to install an aftermarket tune, and who try to tiptoe around it with light throttle. When you can, give it more gas than you think you'd want to, and it actually drives pretty smoothly. Only after watching my wife drive it with a heavier foot did a realize that I was being too ginger with it.
The more I tried to "work around" it, the more it would frustrate me. To get around the quick throttle response, I'd gently lean into the throttle to get going, and the CVT ratio change a few seconds after you get moving is most aggressive under these conditions. So I'd start with really light throttle, and then try to quickly ramp in with more throttle just as the ratio was starting to change. With some practice, that worked pretty well, and quickly increasing the throttle would stave off the aggressive ratio change...it was a "dance" that I had gotten fairly good at. I still thought it was goofy.
I noticed that my wife didn't have as much of a problem with this as me. She just puts the gas down and the car drives away fairly smoothly. So I tried just giving it more gas right from the off. That really seems to change the mapping for the better. I quickly move into an indicated 20-25% throttle (on the upper screen), and the CVT will let the engine flash up to about 2k RPM, but it'll keep it at about that speed as the car accelerates, rather than bogging the engine down with a sharp ratio change. I find it a lot easier to drive this way, rather than trying to time more throttle with the ratio change (to minimize it).
So for what it's worth for those who think this is goofy, who don't want to install an aftermarket tune, and who try to tiptoe around it with light throttle. When you can, give it more gas than you think you'd want to, and it actually drives pretty smoothly. Only after watching my wife drive it with a heavier foot did a realize that I was being too ginger with it.