They made a car that got good fuel economy, performed well, and was sold everywhere else in the world without any problems. It was the onerous government regulations that kept US car buyers from being able to get them. VW found a creative way to get around the arbitrary regs they were faced with. (Kind of like Dodge making the Little Red Express truck in the seventies.)
And they exposed the roadside sniffers that certain states are using to further harass and fine motorists that have already been through the testing process.
VW lied. People spent hard earned money on a lie.
Their property is now worth alot less for a resale.
They violated laws.
The executives belong in jail.
You want to stick an eye in a bureaucracy? Do it with your own money.
Ping.
I can buy an older vehicle with a 400+ cubic inch engine and a multi carb intake that will make far worse emissions that the revvy diesels in the “naughty” VW’s but that is perfectly legal for me to drive on the public roadways. Why are the VW’s illegal other than an arbitrary level set by the federal government.
In my state, a vehicle made before 1996 is completely exempt from emissions testing but a 1996 vehicle has to be tested to that arbitrary number.
Show me the science that says that 1996 vehicle is more likely to drown a polar bear than the 1995 vehicle or the 400CID hot rod — both of which are perfectly legal and free of testing.
The testing is only for extracting that hard earned money from all motorists not for protection of the environment.
Personally, I’d rather have one of the “dirty” VW’s than the so called “clean” ones because they are a superior vehicle.
If you want to sue somebody for damages then sue the sniffers.
In a perfect world, the .gov regulators would be beaten and spat upon.
If we relied on EPA fuel mileage estimates, AAA would make more money for roadside gas assistance than Tijeras Slim and his telecom company.
I’ve yet to own a vehicle that met EPA estimates.
Maybe they used the ‘extra’ mileage so a certain pResident could fly his dog to be with on vacation?
Cheating the epa, yes.
Lying to their customers by omission / non disclosure, no.
This is obviously a Big-Three driven hatchet job against a foreign producer, nothing more.
> on the highway where the 2015 Jetta’s MPGs dropped from 53 to 50 and the 2011 Sportwagen’s plummeted from 50 to 46 MPG.
Get that? A decline of 3 mpg is a drop, a decline of 4 is a plummet. Shills at work there.
Wow the mileage PLUMMETED from 50 (FIFTY) all the way down to 46 (FOURTY SIX). OMG a whole 8%, still better than a Prius. Yes, that’s me shouting, absurd.
The problem with the EPA is that generally they are perceived as being worse than Nazis.
Most people can find sympathy for VW, even if you wouldn’t buy one because their electrical systems are pathetic.
Love my TDI, great mileage and pretty peppy. Here in Florida there is no emissions testing so no problem. Got the VW good faith offer of $500 cash card, a $500 VW credit at VW dealership and 3 years free roadside assistance. I’m taking it. Plus a Michigan court ruled this past week that accepting the offer does not preclude receiving what ever the ultimate owners settlement is as part of the class action lawsuit.
If a car gets better gas mileage and is more efficient it is going to use less fuel overy the life of the vehicle. Which means less pollution. How many more gallons of fuel will be burned because of government regulations?