4 Wheel Drive/SUVs: CVT/VVT Question

Question
Good morning Carl.

I am hoping you can answer my question.  I've been taking my friend car shopping and he's looking at a Jeep Patriot Latitude.  There have been discussions about the CVT vs a VVT transmission.  I've googled quite a bit and from what I can discern, the CVT is a transmission and the VVT has to do with the valve control on the engine.  Is there such thing as a VVT transmission, or is that only an engine thing?  It's been insisted upon that they are both a transmission but I have yet to find anything definitive stating as such.  If you have knowledge on the subject it would be most helpful.  Thanks in advance.

Answer
Bob,

VVT stands for variable valve timing, Which is controlled by the PCM (powertrain control module) by way of electronic solenoids that control oil pressure to the camshaft phasers which controls the valve timing. Now CVT stands for continuously variable transmission which is nothing more than two pulleys that each change their diameter and provide a changeable effective gear ratio without the use of gearsets.

A couple of sites to check out are:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VVT-i
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuously_variable_transmission

I hope this will answer your question.

Carl