Anyone been affected by the Volkswagon emissions nonsense?
Anyone actually that bothered?
Personally I don’t give a monkey’s about the whole emissions thing and now it seems ‘official’ fuel consumption figures are creeping into the debate, something else I don’t take any notice of.
I read an article that said in the 80s/90s car companies were developing engines that would produce lower emissions and greater fuel consumption. But in the 90s various govts and other organisations wanted lower emissions NOW and so manufacturers stopped the developments and just stuck catalytic converters on cars as it would do the job on the standard engines, regardless of the on-cost to the motorist. Then the emissions levels got tighter and tighter and this is when it seems this software was developed to ensure that the cars achieved the standard under official test conditions. Similarly consumption figures are not done ‘on the road’ but under laboratory conditions, so no one is when driving normally going to achieve them. I know when doing my normal local driving my consumption is c.10-15 less mpg than when I’m on a decent run where I can cruise at 55-60 quite easily.
A few people at work are jumping up and down about it, which is amusing me greatly.
the tea leaves appear to suggest that anyone owning the particular engines involved will need to get the upgrade/downgrade/whatever fixed or they will fail future MOT’s and be charged a highter VED rate…
if you paid the 25% ‘badge cost’ to get an uber efficient, uber clean VAG over a more pedestrian Ford or Vauxhall, with - it turns out - the same or worse FE and tax rate, then jumping up and down over being defrauded is perhaps somewhat reasonable.
Instead they have made previous engines “worse” because the next generation of engines needs to be quieter or more efficient. So are just going to go with the original ideas If that makes sense? I will try and find the article.
All these “official MPG” figures are just absolute lies aswell, a friend bought a new Audi and promptly took it back after complaining he wasn’t getting the MPG and was met with a bunch of lies and excuses.
I can bet my bottom dollar that they aren’t the only ones that have done it! There’s probably a lot of car companies frantically running about to change it before they get caught.
Its just all a farce. All this stuff put in by government and EU regulations are just corrupt jokes. It’s all an illusion of democracy that just rapes the common man and feeds the big business’.
Do I care? Not really. I just want to get through this life and crack on the the next higher plane of exsistence and hope it’s a damn sight better than this.
Although I am sure it was Labour that made a big push for Diesel cars and they then admitted they were wrong?
Just like the kettle argument. "oh no don’t you overfill that kettle, don’t leave the lights on in a room to save energy"
But down the road B&Q has 67 light bulbs blaring. And the local shopping centre is using the equivalent energy to run 1200 houses to power escalators everyday.
I have a 63 plate Golf GTD through NHS Fleet Solutions and I have a feeling it is one of the ones affected. Personally, I am not loosing any sleep over it and wouldn’t stop me getting another one when the lease runs out in a few months time.
You’d have to be nuts to believe that volkswagen were the only car company in the world incapable of building a diesel engine that couldn’t meet emissions requirements without cheating.
Having been looking at new cars lately to replace my passat, my car of choice had a top of the range 2l diesel engine that was more efficient and less polluting than their bottom of the range 1.6. I thought that was amazing at the time, now I just think it’s a bit too amazing and is about to come round and bite them on the bum.
Do I care? Actually yes I do. We’ve been lied to by pretty much everyone, the second hand market may well crash, the whole bloody thing has been a con, rather than a genuine attempt at improving efficiency and reducing pollution.
Thankfully I avoided a 1.6 diesel from the VAG stable when I bought new a diesel last year. The whole “less polluting” argument has always been rubbish, but (incorrectly) low tax and economy are big pull factors.
As for the MPG argument, With my diesel cars, including a Skoda with the older 1.9PD diesel, I’ve always had an overall average above the official combined figures. In the Skoda case nearly 10% above on normal everyday runs.
I would hope that govts and other organisations actually start to look at the real figures and then start speaking to vehicle manufacturers as to what is really achievable with the current technology when it’s not fiddled by using catalysts or software. Then with the base figures work to what is achievable initially and reset the targets, with proper development allowed, review these every 2/3 years. The evidence does seem to suggest that unrealistic targets brought in without any consultation to push the ‘climate change’ agenda are why we are where we are.
The world is littered with minimum / maximum figures (targets) that are set by people who don’t really have a scooby, which aren’t achieved or achievable ‘fairly’ or sustainable, because whoever sets them is working to some historical precedent that has been there for years and they can’t be bothered to revise them, or political need and or no current context. As soon as you have things like this people do whatever they need to, to make it look good. As someone whose job involves a lot of data analysis / statistical work, if you are faced with something that isn’t achievable you accept it or look for a solution to make the things look better. Which is what I imagine the engineers at VW and no doubt other car manufacturers have done, faced with unrealistic pollutant targets.
We have KPIs and time related targets that we haven’t failed to hit for years and recieved a bonus each year based on these.
oh i don’t know - i currently drive a 2.0 TDCI mondeo, and with two adults, two kids and a boot full of stuff i’m getting 58-60mpg on 300 mile motorway trips hovering between 75 and 80.
i work out the MPG myself…
in town, taking kids 5 miles to school etc… its awful, possibly 30mpg… but thats not what you buy a car like that for.
Oh goody, my Passat is down to be recalled due to this issue. I thought it would have been too old being a 2010 model and not mentioned in any of the lists of affected models that the media have published.
I’ve got a 15-plate Tiguan and received a letter from VW just the other day. It tells me that a) they’re sorry for having to tell me my vehicle is one of those affected by the lying\cheating that’s happened, b) that the technology to fix it isn’t yet available and c) when it is, my vehicle will be recalled.
It went on to reassure me that I wouldn’t be charged for the work done. As if I’d pay for their lying\cheating…
