JCByrd24
Gold Member
Not an overly thought out post here and I haven't read any of the articles about this debacle, but a couple of things as the buyer of a 2012 VW TDI:
1) The 2.0 in the Jetta makes 45 MPG is all conditions with zero visible emissions, it's a blast to drive; it's not a bad system and I must believe is cleaner than the generation before that had great efficiency and reliability as well. Compared to a gas engine (2.5L back in 2012 not the new 1.8T) in the same car that gets 30 MPG I struggle to understand how the EPA hasn't stacked the deck against diesels in the US. I'm not condoning cheating but I've never gotten this (we couldn't even buy the previous generation of VW diesels here in Maine, but you can always go buy a V10 or diesel HD truck).
2) Again, without reading any articles, why would plugging in the vehicle be part of any EPA approval testing (such that on detection it ran differently to defeat the test). Plugging in is a part of the self-reporting of an older vehicle during "dumb" emissions testing that doesn't actually involve emissions testing, but why wouldn't new production vehicles just be actually tested on a track/dyno...seems like the EPA has a role here to me....similar to the fact that real world MPG doesn't match EPA on almost all vehicles...oh except diesels that routinely beat the EPA ratings.
1) The 2.0 in the Jetta makes 45 MPG is all conditions with zero visible emissions, it's a blast to drive; it's not a bad system and I must believe is cleaner than the generation before that had great efficiency and reliability as well. Compared to a gas engine (2.5L back in 2012 not the new 1.8T) in the same car that gets 30 MPG I struggle to understand how the EPA hasn't stacked the deck against diesels in the US. I'm not condoning cheating but I've never gotten this (we couldn't even buy the previous generation of VW diesels here in Maine, but you can always go buy a V10 or diesel HD truck).
2) Again, without reading any articles, why would plugging in the vehicle be part of any EPA approval testing (such that on detection it ran differently to defeat the test). Plugging in is a part of the self-reporting of an older vehicle during "dumb" emissions testing that doesn't actually involve emissions testing, but why wouldn't new production vehicles just be actually tested on a track/dyno...seems like the EPA has a role here to me....similar to the fact that real world MPG doesn't match EPA on almost all vehicles...oh except diesels that routinely beat the EPA ratings.