Posted on 10/11/2015 3:46:49 PM PDT by smokingfrog
Breese Berkowitz of Walnut Creek bought a new 2015 Passat TDI on Sept. 12 to replace an aging Toyota Prius hybrid. Her familys other car is a plug-in Prius, and she wanted something environmentally friendly but not another plug-in because she needed a longer range.
Volkswagen had been advertising its clean diesel technology and Berkowitz thought the Passat the Eco-friendly Car of the Year, according to Cars.com offered great gas mileage without sacrificing performance.
On Sept. 18, she and everyone learned it was a fraud, that Volkswagen had installed so-called defeat devices on 11 million Volkswagen and Audi diesel cars worldwide, including about 482,000 in the United States. On the road, the cars were producing up to 40 times the nitrogen oxide pollutants allowed in the United States. But the devices allowed them to pass emissions tests..
(Excerpt) Read more at sfchronicle.com ...
...not gonna sign up for anything just to read that rag.
boo hooo - just commit suicide,you eco-freaks
“It is easy to get access to our premium content. If you are already a subscriber,
sign in below. Or take advantage of one of our great offers and subscribe today.”
Initial indications are they have taken a big hit on the dealer used car market (Mannheim and such), but that almost no hit on the individual sale used car market. People still want them, they care more about the fuel mileage than the emissions.
If I needed to buy a vehicle in that class right now, I’d be looking for one quickly on dealer’s used lots. I had a rental in Europe last May with that 2.0TDI engine, and it was great! I loved that car.

What is the mpg of these bad Volkswagen diesels?
I guess I’m missing the sad part of this story. Diesels are dirty motors. Powerful. long range, filthy little beasts.
US customers have been wanting to get their hands on these little turbo diesels from Audi and VW for years but the EPA wouldn’t let them in, IIRC. How many wanted them because they weren’t “emissions-spewing”?
around 40 mpg highway
Just makes me want one more
Edmunds flogged a 2011 Jetta TDI for a year and averaged about 36 mpg. Their best tank averaged 46 mpg. Many drivers report better mpg than Edmunds.
http://www.edmunds.com/volkswagen/jetta/2011/long-term-road-test/wrap-up.html
I guess I don't see a problem, unless it is one of those?
“If I needed to buy a vehicle in that class right now, Id be looking for one quickly on dealers used lots.”
That will be OK if you are in a state that does not emission test your car each year as part of annual inspection.
They do here - my vehicle can’t have a check engine light on, and even if I turn it off, there are monitors that need to reset from driving the car or it still won’t pass. And then the computer in the car needs to report everything as working OK.
The car is hooked to a computer that connects directly to the Department of Motor Vehicles and the VIN # as well as firmware edition is transmitted along with all the test data.
And here is the problem: You can bet that those VWs in question are going to be flagged for disqualification unless they get the “updated software” that you just know VW is going to be forced to come out with. And you can bet that that is going to destroy performance and economy, or they wouldn’t have “cheated” in the first place.
So, in my State and many like them, you won’t be able to drive it until it is “fixed” (IE: made “clean” slow and inefficient. )
Right now I wouldn’t touch one with a ten foot pole.
She wanted to return the car, but couldn’t.
If you really wanted to read the article, you could delete your cookies an web history.
The woman traded in a Prius. What’s that tell you? My guess is she’s upset she’s driving around killing mosquitoes with that filthy dirty beast of a diesel.
“around 40 mpg highway”
If I owned one I think I would just keep driving it till the wheels fall off. Screw the fix....
sorry to ‘hijack, sweetie, but I need to buy a used car.
What would you guys suggest I get?
(from another thread where they were talking about all the ISIS thugs driving Toyotas, looks like I ought to get a Toyota pickup.. LOL)
I got my TDI on September 7th, just 11 days before the announcement of the defeat device fraud.
I’m now faced with the complications of emission testing, recall fixes, reduced mileage, reduced performance, reduced value etc.
At the time I also considered the Prius, high mileage gas cars, but chose the diesel because it has great performance, great mileage, simplicity, supposedly clean, German car image, etc.
Instead I wished we had decided to keep the old car for another year, risk costly repairs.
I don't give a rat's hindquarters what it emits!!!
40+ mpg. You can buy after market programmers for 3-4 hundred that really let’s you play around with it. They are Turbo’s so there is real room to increase power.
I’m sure with a little practice you can make it belch black smoke in a Prius owners face. Good times to be had by all.
A lot of reports of 300k miles or more.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.