[boneheaddoctor]

Not a previous VW owner... I had considered a TDI at one point but never followed through. I knew too many people with non-engine related issues with gasser VW's to be willing to take the chance (and the TDi's have the same issues). So in my case...really hasn't effected my opinion.

I believe the EPA and the Enviro-nazi movement with their excessive regulations fostered the enviroment that made cheating neccessary in some cases.

 

[boneheaddoctor]

The fact that GM managed to make it work without cheating basically means that VW chose to cut corners to reduce their costs. No cheating was necessary.

And at what cost? Bottom line is critical on non-luxury vehicles...pennies per unit are significant as they add up. And the cost isn't insignificant. The diesel in the Curze like most modern vehicles carries a HUGE price penalty because of the excessive emmission mandates imposed by people who openly admit they hate diesel vehicles and intend to take them off the road.

Same tactics of how do you boil a frog in an open pot of water? You start out cold and slowly raise the temperature....the frog gets used to it and doesn't jump out until it hits the critical temperature and dies and cooks. Right out of Saul Alinski's rules for radicals playbook. Eventually they will become so expensive nobody can afford to use them as a result...then end game.

 

[boneheaddoctor]

This is the engineering/design/marketing tradeoff that has to be made for all consumer products. In the case of Diesels this may mean that the bottom tier of cars will never be diesel. This is OK - it's market forces at work. VW was trying to cheat reality by cutting corners on their emissions systems. Chevy didn't cut those corners on the Cruze CTD. Mercedes apparently hasn't cut those corners either.

While VW did compete directly with the Cruze.....Mercedes, or at least the ones sold in the USA, are a completely different class of vehicle. This is not the case everyplace however. Mercedes does make a lot of lower end stuff elsewhere...none of it importable to the USA until they reach 28 years of age when emissions and safety requirements are no longer required to be met.

I plan to import two of my Antique Motorcycles this year from Europe. Freight cost makes shipping two more logical due to weight density and the newest of the two is now exempt (have for a few years actually). And the Euro/ Dollar exchange is finally in favorable territory again.

Excessive complexity is also planned obsolescence. Many parts to keep them running will unlikely be available to keep them on the road too many years...unlike the far simpler older stuff.

I don't oppose reasonable emissions....I do oppose oppressive ones. My Civic is now emissions exempt...I could legally remove the cat...but I won't. I would gain nothing by doing it. And it has never once failed a once every 2 year test in its entire life. Despite having an engine Kalifornistan considers illegal. It passed the strict dynomometer based emissions tests since they were instituted a lot of years ago...some of the strictest in the country.

 

[boneheaddoctor]

Pricing an equally equipped VW Jetta TDI with a Cruze Diesel and the Chevy is cheaper and has real leather available... GM managed to do it out of the gate in the US market with a modern Common Rail diesel engine. VW had YEARS of experience in the US market and chose to CHEAT to make more money!!! That's huge in my book...

Must be a regional thing on pricing....when I looked...WITHOUT all the discounts I was eligible for...I didn't see much if any break on the Cruze in my area. I did get a great deal on mine..Between employee discounts and other incentives including an end of the year sale...I ended up getting $7,800 off list. I knew several ex-VW owners the the horror stories they told me of reliability issues kept it from serious consideration.

Plus I've been a GM guy since I was young. The deck was always stacked in GM's favor for me. 15 months into ownership...my only gripe was the lack of dynamic grid lines on the backup camera. Otherwise I love it. And my last three cars which I still own were Mercedes. Two of those are Diesel. That says a lot.

 

[boneheaddoctor]

I respectfully don't agree with your view or statement. Why would you loose faith in Chevy for VW cheating on lieing on emissions? Every car company makes mistakes GM included, VW cheated and lied and fooled the EPA in short term, the long term implications for VW will last a very long time and cost them many billions and just a lot of bad will for years to come.

Anyone else here remember the stunt Daihatsu pulled that got them banned from the US market.

VW wasn't the first to try to game the system and get caught....probably won't be the last either.

 

[boneheaddoctor]

I tried googling this and only found where an ad was banned. What happened?

Daihatsu 'One day all cars will be this green' ad banned | Brand Republic

They falsified crash test results to get approval to sell cars here in the USA and got away with it for a little while before they got caught. A relative lost a lot of money after paying for franchising rights and setting up a dealership only to have the government come in and yank everything out from him and others....

 

[boneheaddoctor]

I remember Daiwoo getting its nipple caught in a ringer.......what happened to Daihatsu? (I don't even remember them marketing anything...please don't be a senile moment.

Rob

Crap......now you have me thinking.....which was it? Neither sell vehicles here now....but did.


I need to ask that relative which it was.....

 

[boneheaddoctor]

It's only a matter of time until gasoline engines have DPF style emissions controls on them - do a little reading on modern direct injected gasoline engines. While more efficient than traditional port injection, they actually create more soot. Modern direct injected gasoline engines are actually creating more soot emissions than modern diesels equipped with soot traps.

I have read an article someplace that "cleaner" engines are actually far more "dirty" than they used to be. Maybe it was the same place you did.