..and unlike last year no tyre warning
Thank you to everyone who recommended Michelin Energy savers. Fronts are only down to 6mm and rears are down to 7mm (although I thought they started there anyway, lol).
Of more interest my courtesy car was a CVT Jazz this time. And I can report that the new model has a modified CVT. It
appears not to have the dead zone at low revs. I'm not entirely sure as I've long worked out how to avoid it with the old CVT but it seemed more willing to rev the engine when the loud pedal was gently pressed.
What has definitely changed is how it reacts to a heavy foot. On mine the revs kick up to 4.5k then gradually rise to the red line. On the new model the revs jump to 4.5k then fairly rapidly climb to 6k before dropping back to 4.5k and starting another climb. So the bad news is that some fool has modified the programming to make it sound like a conventional gear box. The good news is that they've actually done a good job and although you can hear the difference you don't feel any loss of power so it seems to be cosmetic.
Even more interesting though is that after it's done its little song and dance it hangs onto the revs and they become nicely tied to the accelerator so you can control your (probably excessive) speed using just the accelerator. It seems to be putting the box into sport mode temporarily, unlike mine which if you lift off just lets the revs bleed back down and doesn't provide a great deal of engine braking.
So I'm a bit miffed at the silly 'pretend I have to change gear' effect but it doesn't detract from the feel and you do get some handy accelerator pedal control which if you've already been silly enough to wake the beast could help enhance the experience. It further confirms my view that the 1.5l+CVT is going to be quite a nice car for those who occasionally like to be a bit silly