Comments from Renault-Nissan CEO

[jerry33]

But your argument of "feeling cheated by one of our own" really hits a home run. VW has always had an image of great cars and great integrity, plus being very eco-minded.

Yeah, I bought a TDI because of that reputation. Turned out to be the most disappointing car ever at 22 cents per miles for maintenance alone, and that doesn't include the engine failure at 80K miles (VW paid for the engine under warranty, although the service still cost over $800 and they reduced then engine warranty to 32K miles for new purchasers). I'd never touch another VW product--just garbage.

 

[SpiceWare]

I don't think the ADAC quote indicates cheating in the VW sense, but that the European rules allow qualification before production begins using a specially prepared & stripped down car with door seams taped and seats and accessories removed to reduce weight.

Wow, what's the point of even testing then. Do you a link with more info on this? Would be handy for a discussion I'm in elsewhere. Thanks!

 

[hobbes]

It goes far beyond that. The rules allow lots of unrealistic modifications. Those that you mentioned, plus things like door mirrors taken off, tires inflated to crazy high pressures, air intakes taped as well, and of course special engine software settings that would never be used under normal driving conditions. Mind you, that is not the same as the software used by VW, just so-called "optimization" of engine parameters within the limits allowed by the rules.

Conclusion: get rid of those rules immediately and make new ones that force manufacturers to adhere to realistic driving parameters, unchanged production-equal vehicles. Oh and for a novel idea, take the measurements while driving on real roads under normal traffic conditions.

I believe that, but I cannot imagine that this would give you an improvement of a factor of 10.

 

[AustinPowers]

I believe that, but I cannot imagine that this would give you an improvement of a factor of 10.

Did anyone say a factor of ten? I must have missed that. The fuel consumption figures for new vehicles are off by between 10 and 40 Percent, depending on the model. A factor of ten would mean 1000%, no?

 

[VolkerP]

Asking an Auto CEO on the subject of "clean diesel" is like tasking the frogs to drain the swamp.

 

[David99]

As sad and disturbing it is that we now see how bad Diesel cars really are and how much the car industry has been cheating, I'm very happy it did happen! The majority of people do care about not blowing toxic fumes in the air. It might help the success of the EV!

 

[brucet999]

Did anyone say a factor of ten? I must have missed that. The fuel consumption figures for new vehicles are off by between 10 and 40 Percent, depending on the model. A factor of ten would mean 1000%, no?

The factor of 10 was the lower limit of the range of EPA over-pollution of the VW cars; 10 to 40 times the allowable NOx.

 

[hobbes]

Did anyone say a factor of ten? I must have missed that. The fuel consumption figures for new vehicles are off by between 10 and 40 Percent, depending on the model. A factor of ten would mean 1000%, no?

I was not referring to the fuel consumption, but the emissions that were said to be higher by a factor of 10 to 40 in regular driving conditions compared to testing conditions when diesel-gate started. Should have made that clearer I guess.

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brucet was quicker .