I love driving a manual & I hate that no one wants manual cars anymore. Auto's are lame.
When CVT's first arrived they were terrible.
But in fairness... they have improved a lot. I have driven many rental cars over the last few years and experienced Subaru's, Mitsubishi etc CVT trannys.
Yes CVT's have 'slip'... or more accurately they have a power loss percentage... but a lot of the negative feedback is perception. The car is actually accelerating faster than you think - but we are all used to the traditional rise in engine revs, noise, vibration etc as the car accelerates so it feels very different.
But bottom line is CVT's are designed for better fuel economy, not the drivers pleasure
We have a 2 year old Honda HRV in the family fleet and I have to admit that the typical CVT characteristics are pretty well masked. The car accelerates well, and throttle response is good. Most people wouldn't know what it is. And the 'sport' mode actually makes a big difference to how the transmission behaves, rather than just a token button.
I believe Hondas don't run a torque converter... which would explain the better feel / response.
If you absolutely can't stand aCVT, then Mazda and Hyundai are still using conventional torque converter / planetary boxes. And Mazda's are usually enjoyable to drive anyway.
VW uses robotised manual gearboxes - great for performance applications and long journeys.
Stop / start traffic? Not so much.
I have also read that CVT fluid is very expensive to replace?