Posted on 06/06/2012 6:15:05 PM PDT by Beave Meister
THIS WILL UPSET YOU, VW is not allowed by the US government to sell high milage cars to US consumers. VW even makes the cars here that get 78 mpg but must ship it over seas. I have added this link that shows a test drive world record with the passat which was 75 mpg US
I am still upset with myself for saying "THE CURRENT ADMINISTRATION"t. I understand that it is government regulations that crosses over all party lines. It was just that i had watch Obama talking about better milage cars and that was what upset me to make this video. Please understand I do not place the blame on him alone, this has been going on for decades.
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
“Apparently there is now “acceptable” technology.”
VW,Audi, BMW and Mercedez sell several models each, using diesel technology which is CLEANER than gas vehicles.
Over 50% of new passenger vehicle sales in Europe are diesels.
The olde Big Three simply don’t try very hard anymore, having written off all but light trucks/SUVs a few years back.
I expect we will see Japanese and Korean diesel vehicles, before we see American ones.
And yes, VW builds Passats in Tennessee, with turbodiesel engines, but not the smaller displacment one in the article.
So why is nobody interested in the subsidized, too big to fail auto companies?
Obama, he don’t want no stinkin diesels, he wants elictricity, regardless if it is economical, etc.
I live in WA and we have the highest gas prices in the country right now. Diesel is even higher because the taxocrats here know they can tax diesel more with less repercussions.
I think the VW is a great car with German performance. I know what that is like - used to own a BMW 3 series with the factory motorsports package. A blast to drive in the Smoky Mountains on the windy mountain roads - not so much fun to drive on the rutted pavement from studded tires here.
When I talked to some friends who are mechanics and worked out the fuel/maintenance costs it did not make sense for me but YMMV. I have friends that own them and they have been pretty happy with them and I hope you like yours. We had a Toyota diesel when my folks were stationed in Germany and it was a solid car. The only diesel I currently own is a 5 cylinder 48hp Kubota although I would like to get a used F-350 for the farm.
I had one of those. More like 45 city and 65 hwy
Geez - I have an ‘03 Passat wagon - doesn’t get anywhere near 78 MPH.....
...or 78 MPG either....
read the title again, dufus.
Couldn’t agree more about about VW performance.
We leased a 2011 VW Golf 2.0L TDI with “Sports Package” here in Germany for my better half to drive while on my expat assignment. I hardly ever drive it as I have a company car, but recently got a chance to put a few thousand kilometers on it on our trip to Italy.
On the autobahn in Germany I cruised at 160-180kmh/99-111mph, even topping out at 217kmh/135mph just to see what she what could do. At passport control at the Swiss border I checked the average consumption on the display and it read 8.2 L/100km/28.69mpg. With the lower driving speeds in Switzerland and Italy it went up to 5.9 L/100km/39.87. Wow, what a great car. It makes it a bit more bearable to drive here in Europe when paying about 75 Euros/$95 to fill-up a VW Golf.
As it is a European Model you can switch all the digital displays to English, German, French and etc. However, one thing we laughed about on our trip was when we realized that the Bluetooth computer voice is in American English, but the GPS voice is British English.
The European version of the EPA cheats on mpg figures. They use less realistic methods for calculations.
I would love some of the diesel engines used in Europe. All offer better mileage than similar gas engines, many offer excellent performance, they tend to be reliable, are clean now, and they tend to be torquey. I wish more companies offered them in the US and brought the better ones over. For instance VW has some pretty quick diesels too but sticks us with the 140HP one.
“The Geo Metros I rented in the early 90s got over 50 mpg, and that was driving and treating them like a rental. Nothing comes close today.”
They were also pieces of crap. Some of these high-mileage modern diesels are also nice comfortable cars.
“I had a 2003 VW TDI Jetta. I routinely saw 50+ MPG. I once even saw 60 MPG on a trip from KY to FL. My next car was a 2005 VW TDI Jetta. That one routinely gave me mid-40’s in MPG. Now, I see advertisements bragging about upper 30’s for MPG on TDI Jettas.
This reduction in MPG brought to you by federal government regulations. “
The way the EPA calculates mileage has changed but I have two family members with recent TDI Jettas and they see mid 40s on the highway.
The new Passat Turbo-Diesel Wagon (available here in the US) easily gets 50-55mpg on the highway. Don't take it over 62-65mpg though, or the mileage drops significantly. (Drove one, LOVED it. Just wish I could find a way to give up the safety and comfort of my gas guzzling SUV to own one.)
I doubt something like this would work in this Country.
You story is no different than the stories about “new fangled card dealies” in 1965, 1970, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005, 2010, and now already in 2012. The sad thing is these stories also have been around since the 1930’s.
One is born every minute and your minute was exactly when?
One more point. Time and again physics professors have pointed out that when one takes the weight of a car, the rolling resistance, wind resistance, friction of parts moving, and the fact that A gallon of gasoline contains about 132x106 joules of energy, which is equivalent to 125,000 BTU or 36,650 watt-hours, it is physically IMPOSSIBLE to get the MPG nut jobs claim.
Look, if you took a small 1,500-watt space heater and left it on full blast for a full 24-hour day, that’s about how much energy is in a gallon of gas. Now anyone that thinks you can move 2,500 pounds of metal down a road at 60 MPH for 75 miles on that same gallon is much more than a fool - they are idiotic.
I had a 1984 Jetta diesel that got 55+ mpg on the highway and 40+ in the city. I would probably still have it but my wife totaled it in 1990.
...Unlike EPA ratings, which are broadly achievable on most vehicles, European official economy figures are unrealistic, giving a highly optimistic estimate of what to expect in regular driving.
A new study by the International Council for Clean Transportation has compared real-world figures from a popular German motoring website, with the official EU fuel estimates. The discrepancy? 21 percent.
According to Wards Auto, that’s risen from only 8 percent difference in 2001, and actually echoes our own suggestion that to compare like-for-like with European and EPA figures, you should reduce EU figures by 15-20 percent...
The problem with that engine (1.6 TDI) in the Passat is that the car would be unacceptably slow to the typical American driver.
They would have to rename it “Pass Not”.
The 2.0 TDI in the current Passat yields 8.5-9.0 second 0-60 times. A 1.6 would put it among the slowest vehicles currently for sale in the USA, and at a premium price. VW is smart to avoid going down that road.
late 80’s Honda CRX HF with manual transmission was capable of near 50 MPG.
they were the lightest CRX so most are no longer available since they were used to build street racer ricers.
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