The CVT gearbox prevents any wheel spin which is good thing because when the wheels are spinning you are not going forward.
That's true but I think it goes beyond that. On a decent road surface I bet you can make the manual version leap forward without wheel spin. Just stick it in first gear and floor it - the revs'll be up to the red line in a couple seconds.
Now granted the CVT seems to prefer to initially go to 4,000 with kickdown rather than red line but it won't get to 4,000 in a couple of seconds either. Not from standstill. From 10mph, yes, it will kick down but it won't kick down from stationary.
Interesting thought about switching off traction control, anybody tried this?
I haven't, no. However I don't think the Mk1 had traction control and it seemed similarly 'hobbled'.
For the record though I'll say that it doesn't cause me a problem and I don't feel it's a limitation. Even the 1.3 can accelerate plenty fast enough in normal use. However I do understand that drivers new to the gearbox might be a bit perturbed the first few times they attempt a 'jack rabbit' start to jump into a small gap at a busy roundabout.