The only problematic CVT that was sold locally was the GD Jazz/City. It's more of a specific faulty gearbox than a problem with CVTs in general. The Cedia Lancer which preceded it never had any issues. My friends with Lancer EXs don't have problems with their CVTs either.

I never found CVTs to be noisy either, unless of course you start looking for the noise. For the Altis CVT, the car's NVH is good enough not to have any disturbing humming noises in the cabin.

Nissan has one of the best CVT trannies in the market right now, offering very smooth operation and good fuel economy. I've only tried it on the new X-Trail but the Sylphy should have a similar transmission.

Oh, and about the Altis price increase, I heard they're offering it with roughly a 35k discount so the 949k is effectively just 914k, not much more expensive than the Maxx but already comes with alloy rims, fog lamps, and auto climate control. Of course, the Sylphy 1.6 at 850k is still a better bargain.