I would recommend against, based on VW’s generally less than superb reliabiility in recent years
Yeah I would just say be sure to trade it before the warranty is up and have a spare car, but still for new cars, the reliability doesn’t seem to be that bad. Now if you’re going to try and drive them for 150,000 miles, that’s different.
MJ,that reminds me of the Coyote bounty enacted by the board of supervisors here a generous bounty was enacted and suddenly Coyotes(roadkill and all) from all over the area started pouring in,needless to say,the fund was soon depleted
Yet VW has average reliability according to the 2015 CR reliability report. That is better on average than almost all other brands.
Correct me if I’ m wrong, but my understanding is that all of VW’s cars (gas-powered) nowadays require Premium Fuel. THAT would be the deal-breaker for me. Not so bad today, but when regular is 3.99/ gal and premium is $4.69 or more. . . well, I couldn’t take that hit to my blood pressure every time I got gas.
A lot of the cars now have to have premium and it hasn’t been a big thing for me. Little engines, high compression I guess except my Acura is a V6 and still requires premium.
If the deal was right, why not? Take advantage of a situation which will pass quickly…
The recall will be mandatory, but will have no effect of law in those states without annual emissions inspections. There’ll be no system to discover cars that are uncorrected. If I owned one in a state with no annual inspections, I’d smile and drive on. As with other recalls, the law applies to the manufacturer, not to the consumer.
My guess- VW will also agree to pay owners who get the “fix”, that’ll increase the take rate. So the only way owners would be compenstated would be if the did the recall.
It seems reasonable to guess that VW will install a urea injection system, at least in the USA. If that is done, then VW would also provide a lifetime supply of free urea, available only at the dealer. That takes care of most of the cost. If the EPA fuel mileage after the fix is the same as the original EPA estimates, then there may be no additional money in the settlement.
@mountainbike Good point. Recalls here are the responsibility of the manufacturer and no one will be prosecuted for not responding to them. We do not have annual emission inspections so a lot of diesel owners here will not respond to the recall since it will reduce driveability and fuel mileage.
We owned a 1976 Ford Granada 351V8 here and it was the first model with a catalytic converter. The driveability was terrible and I simply had the cat removed and it ran well after wards. We kept the cat in case we had to move to another jurisdiction and had to sell the car. When we got rid of it we sold it to a local guy as a winter beater.
Whatever happens VW is in for a huge bill, just the class action law suits will cost a bundle.
What happens when the registered owners,have to prove they had the mods made?Some silly crap,has the stickiest tendrils.
What happens when the registered owners,have to prove they had the mods made?
That’ll be easy. They are already working on (I think it’s already complete) software patch to many of the states emission testers that hook up to the OBD-II port.
And there’s more:
10,000 Audi and Porsche diesel vehicles built from 2014 through 2016 have the software cheat, too. I guess there has to be an end to their audacity since VW did not build an infinite number of diesels with the software cheat. The breadth of their scam gets more amazing every week.
The problem with forcing VW to fix the problem is that they can’t. I was suspicious at the time VW started selling these cars that they could meet US emissions standards when every other make was having to install expensive, inconvenient urea injection systems to clean up their exhaust adequately.
There is no practical way for VW to install a urea system on existing cars as it is multiple components and a substantially more complex exhaust system. There is no room for it. The newer cars should have had one from the start, but VW was getting away with their game already and the system would only have been needed on the small number of cars sold in the US. After the next round of Euro emission standards they’ll need urea injection on models sold there, too. The fraud was just to let them sell cars in the US for a few years.
What will the EPA do? Probably require software changes to make the cars as clean as possible and leave it at that (in addition to a big fine). If there are reductions in gas mileage because of it I could also see them requiring some kind of modest rebate plan like Hyundai had to implement.
Porsche infected too? hmm … didn’t VW bring in a Porsche executive to be their new CEO to address this problem? Oh my …
I do believe that Porsche is one of the family owners. The Greatgrandfather I believe is the one that came up with the Beetle. The majority ownership was among the two sides of the family and there has been an on-going rift. There was a good article a week or so ago in DerSpiegal on the whole family dynamics or dysfunction. Maybe I referred to it a few pages back.
@Bing Yes, Dr. Ferdinand Porsche developed the original Beetle for Hitler to be the People’s Car. World War II postponed that project but the VW emerged first as a military jeep type vehicle. The Porsches have always been close to VW, although initially VW firm was owned by the state of Lower Saxony.
Early Porsche models were derived from VWs.
Just because it is very expensive to retrofit al US diesels with a urea system is no reason to let VW off the hook for it. I’m sure they can find a way to install it. The cost should be immaterial to everyone but VW. Maybe they and others will think long and hard about doing it again of the cost is high enough.
BTW, welcome back, @MarkM.
@jtsanders Yes, VW may have to buy back all these US sold cars and also pay the $37,500 penalty per car as well. It may not be that bad in the rest of the world. European spec cars can be retrofitted more easily.
Then there are the class action lawsuits which may include the kitchen sink including “pain and suffering”.
Diesel Progress magazine estimates the whole fiasco could cost VW as much as $18 billion when it’s over.
It will cast a shadow over any further diesel sales for passenger cars in North America.