Post something negative that happened today

[the awesome Assassin]

It's always something... Isn't it spacehamster...

[spacehamster]

It's always something... Isn't it spacehamster...

Well, yeah, that's why it's funny.

Incidentally, though, the Swiss government just banned the sale of the potentially affected models pending further investigation, and it's only Euro 5 engines - mine's a Euro 6. Looks like I'm in the clear.

[Black Jacques]

I love thinking about the boardroom meeting where the cheat was discussed and all the people who had to've bought into the idea. And the technicians on the assembly line or the guys coding the computer... "what's this for again?" "uh... traction control"

It's likely just the tip of the iceberg too - VW aren't the only one selling green conscience. Auto manufacturing may as well be the Tour de France.

[spacehamster]

I love thinking about the boardroom meeting where the cheat was discussed and all the people who had to've bought into the idea. And the technicians on the assembly line or the guys coding the computer... "what's this for again?" "uh... traction control"

I read up on this stuff a bit and it turns out other companies have done similar things, just for larger trucks, never for regular cars. What's new is really the size of the scam, and the fact that it's a company with a previously impeccable reputation like VW.

It's likely just the tip of the iceberg too - VW aren't the only one selling green conscience.

Yeah, it's funny how few journalists seem willing to point this out just yet - this is probably just the foreplay to a much bigger industry wide scandal and the complete tanking of the market for diesel engines, which is massive in Europe, unlike the US. VW's diesels didn't massively outperform the competition, they just used this software to get comparable performance and still meet emission standards under testing conditions. And now they want us to believe that somehow VW's engineers were the only ones who couldn't pull this off without cheating? Seems far more likely that everyone did this.

And then the next question is, are they still doing it. The Euro 5 standard was replaced about a year ago, and the current story is that engines built for the new Euro 6 standard over the last 12 months are clean. Now I don't know jack shit about the engineering involved, but I find that difficult to believe. These standards get tighter all the time, if anything. I certainly hope it's true somehow, though, because if my car's affected by the recall, I figure no matter what they do, I'll lose a five figure amount of money in the process.

[riley-o]

Impeccable reputation but for ITS ASSOCIATION WITH HITLER

[Necrometer]

ahahahahaha

good postin', though, Mike. FWIW this is an immense news story here. my understanding is that consumers might be able to decide whether or not they bring their car in for the recall, putting the environmental abuse into their hands: either keep hyper-polluting while getting nice fuel efficiency, or bring it in for conversion to a greener ride that, ironically, guzzles more gas

[spacehamster]

consumers might be able to decide whether or not they bring their car in for the recall, putting the environmental abuse into their hands: either keep hyper-polluting while getting nice fuel efficiency, or bring it in for conversion to a greener ride that, ironically, guzzles more gas

So you can drive a car that doesn't meet emission standards? How does that work legally? AFAIK this is as much about emission standards in the US as it is here - the selling point wasn't the emissions, it was the mileage. And that's why they're worried about class-action lawsuits now. I know I'll be pissed if my fuel expenses suddenly go up by 50% or whatever this is going to mean.

[Necrometer]

I was mistaken - at least in CA you won't be able to renew registration until you take care of recall stuff:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/24288925-story

So, yeah, more fuel costs and resale value is in the toilet. That's fucked. Sorry, man. Hitler strikes again.

[riley-o]

Hitler's final assault on Europe

[spacehamster]

Hitler's final assault on Europe

YEAH OKAY I DRIVE A HITLER CAR LEAVE ME ALONE.

I was mistaken - at least in CA you won't be able to renew registration until you take care of recall stuff:
http://www.ktvu.com/news/24288925-story

That's what I would've figured. Emission standards aren't polite suggestions for potential Prius buyers.

So, yeah, more fuel costs and resale value is in the toilet.

And you get a tax deduction for fuel efficient cars here as well, which I'd also lose if it turns out the Euro 6 models are affected. Best case scenario, it'll actually turn out the car's clean, but its resale value will still be ruined because this is going to wipe out demand for all diesel cars. At least that'll give me a reason to drive it until it falls apart, which I was considering anyway. But if I end up having to blow 50% more on fuel and I lose thousands in resale value...

Here's an interesting read: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d0d7ba40-6394 ... z3msjmz3D6

Turns out several EU governments may have known that this was at least possible, but were lobbied by the industry not to do anything about it. Notice also how the conversation is not about Volkswagen, but all diesels. And if this is the result of lobbying in the EU, particularly Germany, it would also explain why Switzerland, a non-EU country, is almost the only one thus far that's banned the sale of the models in question.

I'm also still not buying this shit about the current generation of engines no longer having these defeat devices. That just seems to convenient - the Euro 6 norm took effect exactly a year ago. Unless they saw this coming, fixed the problem and hoped it wouldn't be detected in the older models, I guess.

[hipster holocaust]

Post something boring that happened today...

SPOILERSPOILER_SHOW

Kidding. Good luck with the Hitlermobile, and be sure to tie your shoes in little nazis.

[spacehamster]

Psh. This is the news story of the week.

[Geeheeb]

hopefully new software comes with more diverse emoji

[Geeheeb]

VW warned in 2007: http://arstechnica.com/cars/2015/09/rep ... s-in-2007/

[godofdeadlydeath]

It took me 2 hours to get to work today, when it usually takes me a little over an hour. Because rain, of course.

[hipster holocaust]

A little over an hour? In a car?

[godofdeadlydeath]

Yeah. My office is 45 miles away. I don't mind the average commute but whenever there's an accident or some weather it can be pretty brutal.

[Black Jacques]

Drive a vw diesel, earth killer?

[Geeheeb]

im guessing kia

[godofdeadlydeath]

Honda Civic. I usually only have to fill up my tank once a week.

[Geeheeb]

that is a little too sensible for a guy who buys in flames CDs in 2015

[hipster holocaust]

He must have a fucking hybrid because when I drove my Civic to college which was the same distance I would be filling that bastard up at least twice a week.

[Geeheeb]

Boo had a civic hybrid and it's milage was around 40, not a hell of a lot better than the combustion model. Plus it would shit the bed about once a year, so it didn't have the reliability you'd expect. Prius was a hell ov a lot better

[godofdeadlydeath]

It's not a hybrid, I get over 400 miles to the tank and most of the drive is highway. For the record, I haven't bought a new In Flames CD since 2006, so there!

[hipster holocaust]

Maybe I was missing out on optimal milage from all of the ass I was hauling around