Smokey didn’t cheat; it was “superior readin’ of the rules”. 🙂 He was a race car builder at a time when NASCAR and USAC rules were generally vague, and “stretching the rules” was standard procedure for every race team. The whole problem was that his innovations were so clever and so far ahead of the competitors, and particularly the NASCAR “tech inspectors”, that no one could comprehend the things that he did.
He was probably the most innovative genius that I’m aware of, in my lifetime. He consulted to GM, Ford, and some other automotive companies. He was an inventor, and held multiple Patents, mostly in the automotive field, but also in some other areas. Cars today benefit from these patents.
But back to the main subject:
Does anyone know what types of “pollutants” are emitted in excess amounts by the VW diesels, and what the amount of increase is between “testing” and “driving” mode, and what the proven (documented) effect is on the health of people in the US, or worldwide?
It's an odd one as my passat is the best car I've ever had and the only one I haven't been able to kill. BUT I wouldn't buy one of the newer common rail diesels so it will likely be the last one I ever own. When a diesel needs more engine management gubbins than a petrol you've lost all the benefit!
Never had to deal with a main stealer tho, as never owned a new enough car for that 🙂. I am not sure I ever want to either.
Between the front seat spontaneously catching fire because of a faulty heater and the engine seizing at 65,000 miles because of what turned out to be a design defect, I can say I was not pleased. Gas, not diesel, 4 cyl turbo. VW's reaction was to disallow every warranty claim it could on the flimsiest of pretexts.
It sounds funny for me to say this about a German car, but... never again!
It sounds funny for me to say this about a German car, but... never again!
Ah. VW did a wide range of 1.8T engines. Some were great, some were not. Suspect their speccing fuel that was different to the stuff you get probably didn't help. BMW had a problem with the 4 litre V8s and UK spec petrol about 15 years ago. The engines were guaranteed to die at some point.
73 Celica
74 Volvo 140 series wagon - try to kill one of those!
80 Accord - (Gen 1- back when they were a bare bones model)
86 Dodge Caravan (Gen I)
98 Dodge Grand Caravan (Gen III)
90 or so VW Rabbit Diesel
86 Honda Civic 4 dr (Gen 3)
2x mid 2000s Honda Civic & Accords (kid's cars, hard to remember precisely )
2004 Civic
94 Ford Ranger XLT
2010 Ford Ranger Sport
2015 Subaru Forester
the only models purchased new are the last 2 on the list - the experience at the Subaru was a delight compared to the slick cowboy at the Ford Dealer
that's almost as many as you might find carcasses of at casa Dlugos on any given day
of the 4 North American vehicles we've owned for any length of time, the Gen II Grand Caravan was probably my favorite
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No, the issue was undersizing the oil cooler and (I think) the oil pan to accommodate the thermal load of the turbo. A massive number of field failures.
Depends on the location.
The reason why Euro-5 is 180mg/km and NOx limit of Bin-5 is 50mg/km.
At 90 percent MCR, the diesels in my boat push out as much NOx per hour as a few thousand cars.
On open sea, there are no pedestrians, no traffic queues (oh no, not that word again).
Fine particles get into the blood-stream through the lungs, increase the chance of CAD.
The environmental impact of NO2/NO is a very complex matter, an air/soil/groundwater thing, think fertilizers.
As of yet hard to tell what the impact on human health is or will be.
The letter by the EPA to VW on the 18th only mentions NOx emission levels of 10 to 40 times above the EPA compliance figure.
Which I find a bit confusing, 10-40 times 50mg/km makes 500 to 2000mg/km.
The 2000mg/km number at 60mph, would be at the level of my marine diesels.
For a reference, Audi's V12 brute of a diesel engine does less than 250mg/km NOx.
And that one is 3 times the displacement of the 2 liter VW.
Quality wise, our 2009 Jetta SportWagon is pretty good. There weren't any diesel versions available at the time (August '08), so we got the 2.5L 5 cylinder gas engine. This engine was already available in the earlier Jetta sedans, so no reliability issues. Other than some computer issues a couple years ago, which were covered by the extended warranty we bought, the car has been dependable and trouble free.
jeff
No, this is about VW trying to avoid having to raise the price of their small cars to cover the cost of adding urea systems. They claimed to be able to get economy and low emissions by magical engine tuning. Turns out it doesn't really work.
A couple more interesting articles:
Volkswagen 'Dieselgate' Fallout: Germany Tests Cars; Report Sends BMW Shares Down : The Two-Way : NPR
VW scandal is just the tip of the iceberg | Germany | DW.COM | 23.09.2015
Google translate doesn't handle this one very well, but it sounds like the German government knew about the software cheat ad was not motivated to act on it. Maybe a german speaker out there can help interpret:
VW-Skandal: Bundesregierung kannte die Betrüger-Technik - DIE WELT mobil
Bill
^the finger pointing phase begins, try to take as many down as you can.
IDK maybe VW and rest should of refused to import to California in the first place (since that bar is the highest )
IDK maybe VW and rest should of refused to import to California in the first place (since that bar is the highest )
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Or "Lowest"?
I find the whole ordeal laughable...Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel, Lowering NOx / SOx, it was just a matter of time before the manufactures started to cheat to make these specs as they realized it may not be possible, or very very costly, to make the specs, which would have to be ultimately passed onto the customer.
When is Clean Enough, Clean Enough? ZERO Sulfur, NOx / SOx? Are we prepared to spend that much for fuel?
Dirty fuel is still expensive, just not so much to the customer who buys it - rather the others who breathe in the fumes and suffer health complications as a result.
You can stop digging yourself into that hole, now. You aren't going to get out of it. I read what you said. You don't think it's a big deal and you blame the victims. Leave it at that.
Based on my experience that sounds a totally rational and reasoned conclusion.
(Oh, and just to add that the Corolla mentioned at the end of this has now had a new battery due to a suspicion of leaking acid, the Auris is still trouble free unless you count a blocked washer nozzle (poor spray pattern) that I had to fix using compressed air from a can)
I've had 3 BMW's, A Merc, and 2 VW's and honestly never had a problem. I've had a Lexas - also no problem.
Seems you guys have had some really bad luck. I had a boss once that had a VW Toureg (IIRC - it was their top of the range SUV) and he had no end of trouble.
I've just bought a Citroen C4 MPV - so far so good. It is diesel though . . . 😀
My wife loves Peugeots and we had a small one that she drove around in for 14 years. Other than new front suspension ball joints every 3-4 years (common issue on older front wheel drive cars) she never had a problem. My son had it for 3 or 4 years. We scrapped it off because the insurance was about 4 times the value of the car.
Seems you guys have had some really bad luck. I had a boss once that had a VW Toureg (IIRC - it was their top of the range SUV) and he had no end of trouble.
I've just bought a Citroen C4 MPV - so far so good. It is diesel though . . . 😀
My wife loves Peugeots and we had a small one that she drove around in for 14 years. Other than new front suspension ball joints every 3-4 years (common issue on older front wheel drive cars) she never had a problem. My son had it for 3 or 4 years. We scrapped it off because the insurance was about 4 times the value of the car.
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There we go with that odd British "Merc" thing again. To us on this side, that means a Mercury.
Anyone remember the Ford Pinto, dubbed as "Barcecue who could seat 4" ? Enlightening article from 1977 and how Ford dealt with it, saving a few bucks : Pinto Madness
I don't find any excuses for VW- but for now at least they ahve admitted cheating
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