EPA may fine VW - Page 23 - Fuel Economy, Hypermiling, EcoModding News and Forum

COcyclist · 03-30-2018, 04:25 PM

We reluctantly turned in my wife’s A3 TDI to VAG for the buyback. It was a fine low mileage car with nothing wrong with it. Still looked brand new. We replaced it with an Audi Q5 with the 3.0 supercharged gasoline engine. The fines and penalties to VW were supposed to be about emissions but what is the carbon cost to our planet of taking perfectly good cars off the road, that will go 45 miles on a gallon of diesel, and replacing them with bigger, heavier SUVs? We have yet to see a tank average over 25mpg.

Ironically, I am still driving the 04 Golf TDI with a tune and a hotter thermostat with higher NOx and particulate emissions than the A3 ever did. And the A3 will probably end up in the crusher.

oil pan 4 · 03-30-2018, 04:38 PM

Wow what a colossal waste.
Brought to you by the government. Of course.
Why couldn't they just fine VW and be done with it?

freebeard · 03-30-2018, 05:57 PM

That's a lot of potential EV conversions.

rmay635703 · 03-30-2018, 05:58 PM

Riversimple and Fuel Cell Discussions - Mitsubishi I-Miev Forum

VWs storage of cars is funding places like the link above.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedDevil

VW has been buying back hundreds of thousands of their diesel car, so what did they do with them?

Err... Nothing.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-v...-idUSKBN1H50GQ

COcyclist · 03-30-2018, 06:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by freebeard

That's a lot of potential EV conversions.

Unfortunately, under the terms of the settlement reached with the EPA and CARB these cars can be brought into compliance with Tier 4 emissions regulations by VAG or destroyed. They are prohibited from being sold without the “fix”. From what I have read the later TDI models with the AdBlue urea tanks require just a software patch. The older models like my wife’s 2011 model do not have an approved retrofit at the present time.

PressEnter[] · 03-30-2018, 08:50 PM

I think I see my old car!

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr · 03-30-2018, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by COcyclist

The fines and penalties to VW were supposed to be about emissions but what is the carbon cost to our planet of taking perfectly good cars off the road, that will go 45 miles on a gallon of diesel, and replacing them with bigger, heavier SUVs?

Even if they were going to replace them with small-displacement motorcycles and sidecars, taking perfectly good cars to the scrapyard seems pointless at all.
workaround ideas to discuss among friends: Why is it pointless to ban older Diesel cars like it's been proposed in Germany?

Xist · 03-31-2018, 04:44 AM

Force them to convert the cars to electric?

cRiPpLe_rOoStEr · 03-31-2018, 10:32 AM

I still believe going all-electric sounds more like a pipe dream, but anyway, with so many countries such as Paraguay where used imports are still valuable and the emission requirements are less stringent, it's pointless to leave those cars stored there indefinitely. BTW since so many cars made in the U.S.A. had been fitted with Diesel engines for export, and some were even fitted with Volkswagen engines such as the Dodge Caliber and 1st-gen Jeep Compass, I see no reason to keep that BS going on. Obama days are over, and Trump has promised to downsize EPA, so I must confess I was expecting all this drama to come to an end much earlier...

Hersbird · 03-31-2018, 01:22 PM

I think the article said most have been fixed and are ready to return to the market. I wonder why the wait then? Are they waiting until the end of 2019 and they are done with buybacks and such? There is going to be a glut of low mileage used TDIs directly from VW when they do decide to start selling.