Eek! half way through buying a used VW Passat 2.0TDI - what do I do????

nemsyb

Good points, I supposed I'd really have to hope that this blows over in the media before I'd like to sell it on again in a few years. I'm sure VW will do everything they can to rectify the problem for us VW owners. I'm also sure their PR engine will be in over drive trying to ensure we still think they're great in the long term... hopefully!

bazster

The hoo-ha is not about software, the hoo-ha is about what the software is covering up - the absence of a urea injection system on these engines.

So the question regarding these vehicles in the UK and Europe is not, "are they 'fitted' with the software"? The question is actually "can they meet the EU emission regulations without the urea injection system?" And the fact that many diesels now on sale in the UK (including some VW's) do have the system suggests the answer is, maybe not (after all, they wouldn't be fitting the system if it wasn't necessary).

If there is a recall it will not be pretty. Retrofitting the urea injection system would be tricky, expensive, and might even be totally impracticable. Simply re-tuning the software to reduce nitrous oxide emissions would result in poorer performance and higher fuel consumption (which is why they didn't do it in the first place).

On the other hand if the cars can meet the regulations (the ones applicable when manufactured, not the current ones) the presence of the "cheat" software is irrelevant: there's nothing for it to cheat.

I don't know whether there will be a recall, but I'd be amazed if the risk of it (and the bad publicity in general) hasn't already badly hit the resale value of these cars. The sad fact is that if you check the book value of "your" car on the morning you are supposed to hand over the balance, and you find it has fallen by significantly more than £500 since you put your deposit down, you might be better off cutting your losses and walking away to buy one cheaper elsewhere. Or if you tell the seller that this is what you intend to do they might reduce the balance payable, knowing that they can't sell the car to anyone else for more than you are willing to pay.

WellKnownSid

bazster wrote: »

So the question regarding these vehicles in the UK and Europe is not, "are they 'fitted' with the software"? The question is actually "can they meet the EU emission regulations without the urea injection system?" And the fact that many diesels now on sale in the UK (including some VW's) do have the system suggests the answer is, probably not (after all, they wouldn't be fitting the system if it wasn't necessary).

You're talking about Euro-VI compliance. The car in question is Euro-V.

qwert_yuiop

Looks like the big shots in finance disagree with the above. The company's shares have collapsed, with its value down by a third, although up a bit this morning. That's more than bp dropped when its rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico. This differs from Toyota as it involves an overt fraud.

qwert_yuiop

Mr_Mink wrote: »

The only people who really care are the ones jumping up and down in the press trying to look holier than thou.

It's not too difficult to look holier than thou if thou art naught but a crook, and thou hast committed fraud and deception. Jumping up and down not necessary.

bigjl

I don't think they needed a Urea system to hit Euro4. As one of the reports I read mentions cars going back to 2008 so surely that would have been Euro4.

I have measured the emissions on a Euro5 Jaguar XJL (diesel) and they were so negligible that they hardly registered.

I will be interesting to see how things develop.

But with the VW/Audi bias in sections of the motoring press I wonder if this will be played down.

If it was British car firm I reckon they would be on the attack already.

Those responsible should do prison time, it is fraud.

Mr_Mink

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Looks like the big shots in finance disagree with the above. The company's shares have collapsed, with its value down by a third, although up a bit this morning. That's more than bp dropped when its rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico. This differs from Toyota as it involves an overt fraud.

There's a big difference between the company's shares value and the value of the cars being sold.

Regardless of how wrong it was (which I don't think anyone is disputing), the value of a Passat in the UK isn't likely to see much change because of this.

Retrogamer

motorguy wrote: »

And what do you think your chances of success are going to be given that :-

(a) theres no evidence - yet - that it affects UK cars
(b) theres no suggestion that anything other than a software update will correct it
(c) theres no evidence to suggest that the used value is / will be impacted

A little off topic but i'm not so sure a simple software update can fix it. If it could. why wouldn't they have that software when leaving the factory. Unless it hampers performance, in which case value / usefulness could be affected.

If it does happen to be an issue in the UK and needs rolled out via Software i wonder if insurance companies would class the remapping as a modification.

dannyrst

If I were the owner of one of these cars, I'd be getting a dyno read out before any work and one done after.

Any remedy will probably result in lower performance from the car.

bigjl

qwert_yuiop wrote: »

Looks like the big shots in finance disagree with the above. The company's shares have collapsed, with its value down by a third, although up a bit this morning. That's more than bp dropped when its rig blew up in the Gulf of Mexico. This differs from Toyota as it involves an overt fraud.

I am fairly certain that the Rig was leased from an American firm.

It was classic corporate America divert blame tactics

Even Obama insisted on calling BP, British Petroleum. Which it hasn't been called for years.