> But they're illegal in F1 - because they make the car sound boring.
I can confirm, my CMAX has an eCVT, and the engine noises are boring. Either it's off, or it's running in a pretty limited range, you can get a bit of fun rev increasing noises if you drive it just right... but mostly boring. My 81 VW Vanagon is much more fun to drive even if it's objectively worse at everything in terms of acceleration, top speed, wheel slip, etc; although the turning circle on the cmax is garbage, so the vanagon wins there. The VW makes fun sounds as you go from low rpm to redline several times as you work through the gears, and the cmax is just droning along.
At least around me, there's a good number for sale. Lots more if you don't mind water cooling and/or subaru engine swaps.
Mostly parts are available; although some things need creativity: federal EGR filters are unobtainable so people might EGR delete instead, rear side markers aren't available, so you have to use Mercedes G-Wagon parts (but they used to use Vanagon parts and scratch off the logos!), I had to adapt a crankcase ventilation valve from a different car because they don't make the ones for mine anymore. Also, headlight switches are available new, but the molds are wrong, so they break when installing (I found a used one, and added headlight relays to reduce the current going through the switch). Oh, and I'm in the second year of ownership, so I started getting fun problems where it runs ok at home but not on the road.
When it is running though, you almost have to drive the snot out of it... Otherwise it'll take an hour to get up to speed.
I can confirm, my CMAX has an eCVT, and the engine noises are boring. Either it's off, or it's running in a pretty limited range, you can get a bit of fun rev increasing noises if you drive it just right... but mostly boring. My 81 VW Vanagon is much more fun to drive even if it's objectively worse at everything in terms of acceleration, top speed, wheel slip, etc; although the turning circle on the cmax is garbage, so the vanagon wins there. The VW makes fun sounds as you go from low rpm to redline several times as you work through the gears, and the cmax is just droning along.