I currently own a 2003 A4 3.0 CVT. The first issue I have is when I am driving the car. The RPMs are rising then falling every 2 or 3 seconds. So if the RPMs are at 2,000 it jumps to 2,200 then back down. It feels like the car is getting kicked in the rear. When I get above 50 MPH is problem starts to go away. There are no problems while in park.

My second issue is a concern although it hasn't happened for a few months. This has happened only 4 or 5 times. When I start the car and drop it into reverse, the car starts to buck violently. I then placed the car in park, turned it off, restarted it and the issue went away.

Any educated guesses? I'm more concerned about the first issue as it's taking away from my driving pleasure. BTW, I drive my car a lot. It currently has 68,000 miles on it.

 

CVTs change ratios in small amounts. This allows acceleration with little RPM change. This may feel strange.