Paris Mayor Proposes Banning pre-1997 cars

[Piwoslaw]

I think this ban is aimed at trying to save the automotive economy. I recently read that PSA (Citroën/Peugeot) is having trouble.
If he wanted to reduce congestion and/or pollution, he would have tried either introducing fares for entering the city's center (like London), or banning cars that really do pollute (like Germany's Umweltzones).

[shovel]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

I think this ban is aimed at trying to save the automotive economy. I recently read that PSA (Citroën/Peugeot) is having trouble.
.

I agree that this is probably the reason - however it also seems very myopic because old cars are part of the automotive economy too. Parts, mechanics, customization, the whole aftermarket thrives on old cars more than it does on new cars. Trashing old cars is not only a waste, but also a clear 'rob Peter to pay Paul' scenario.

Once a whole new car has been manufactured and put into service, its days are numbered anyway - eventually it will be in a collision, or will rust out, or will simply fall into enough disrepair that it's no longer worth keeping on the road - and the problem will "solve" itself.

How many 12+ year old cars are even on the road, really? In the US, a car is expected to be in service an average of 8 years supposedly. I don't know what the half-life of a car is but I doubt more than 5% are still operational after 20 years. I can't even remember the last time I saw a Dodge Colt or Renault LeCar or Subaru Justy on the road - I'm even a gearhead and naturally pay attention to what sort of machinery I see on the road, and hardly any of it is from the 80's or earlier. Maybe 5% of what I see on the road in South Phoenix is 20+ years old - and we don't have rust here at all. - how much pollution are they really contributing?

If anything, they should make old cars pass reasonable safety inspections... brake serviceability and emissions and such. I hate getting behind a pre-emissions, carbureted car as much as anyone - it stinks! But, it's once a month at most around here. Not really a concern.

[oil pan 4]

Originally Posted by shovel

How many 12+ year old cars are even on the road, really? In the US, a car is expected to be in service an average of 8 years supposedly.

A lot.
Traditionally the average vehicle age of a vehicle on US road ways has always been between about 8 years but since 2008 the average car age rocketed to over 11 years old. Hmmm, what changed in 2008?

As of Jan 2012:
Average age of U.S. vehicles is now 10.8 years
"The cars and trucks in America's driveways have reached a record old age"
"the average age of a car in the U.S. last year was 11.1 years"
"the average truck was 10.4 years"

Originally Posted by shovel

I hate getting behind a pre-emissions, carbureted car as much as anyone - it stinks!

The main problem is no one tunes carburetors any more.
My camaro did the same thing until I installed a wide band O2 meter and bought a rod and jet tuning kit.

Here a snippet from my camaro page:
"AEM air/fuel ratio meter and expanded edelbroock metering rod and jet kit.
Lean idle 17:1 or leaner
Lean cruse around 15:1
Lean hard acceleration 14:1 (unintended need to re jet to get between 12.5 to 1 and 13.2:1)"

Before I started tuning the carb it ran horribly rich, the A/F meter stayed maxed out (10:1) or would occasionally show 11:1 through its entire operating range.

Now the idle keeps the A/F meter around 17:1, to help clean off plugs. The lean cruse is leaner than most older fuel injected cars and WOT is not nearly rich enough.