World of mystery

giraffe69

Just musing really but It quite surprises me how so many car dealers & manufacturers hide basic facts and how the motoring press don't seem to have any interest in covering the story.

Two examples: Try finding out which cars are diesel and use ad blue. You might think there would be a list somewhere but if there is I can't find it and car manufacturers sites are silent on the matter for the most part.

If you want to buy a new car then quite a few sites have configurators that don't work either by you getting to watch an eternally spinning wheel or by having only a small number of cars showing or by having a price list which shows loads of models with prices TBA. This is, I think, because they haven't yet passed the WLTP test (especially true for parts of the VW group).

Of course this not only affects availability but also waiting lists.

Even if you expect manufacturers and showrooms to be coy you might expect a motoring column in a newspaper or a car magazine to be a bit more forthcoming and use their investigative skills or am I just being naive?

EdGasketTheSecond

Not a lot of mystery:


From What Car:

Which cars need AdBlue?

Many diesel cars registered after September 2015 use AdBlue to reduce emissions. In general, if you own a Euro 6-compliant diesel Audi, BMW, Citroën, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes-Benz or Peugeot, it’s likely to use AdBlue technology. There’s often a clue in the car’s name, which may have 'Blue' or 'SCR' in it.

giraffe69

Yes. I've seen that. What about an actual list rather than a "in general" or noted as part of a review. What about Seat? VW? Mazda?

Ergates

giraffe69 wrote: »

Yes. I've seen that. What about an actual list rather than a "in general" or noted as part of a review. What about Seat? VW? Mazda?

Sounds like an opportunity - off you go.

EdGasketTheSecond

Ad Blu doesn't sound like a great selling point. AA had 20,000 call outs due to Ad Blu running out and then the car refuses to start; not a great selling point which might explain the lack of info a little.

agrinnall

Just buy a petrol car (or petrol hybrid, or electric) and then you'll never need to worry about AdBlue.

giraffe69

I understand the reason why the companies are not that keen to plug it. I don't understand why the press are not keener to highlight it. As for not buying a diesel car this is clearly a choice but even when sales of diesels have dropped around 30% of sales are still for diesels. Even if that declines further there is a market for the time being particularly amongst those who drive higher mileage.
I may switch from diesel to petrol although most of my miles are on long trips but I would quite like there to be better information to just about ad blue but also about available cars in the wake of WLTP.

d0nkeyk0ng

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

There’s often a clue in the car’s name, which may have 'Blue' or 'SCR' in it.

The wife's VW Tiguan didn't have anything to indicate it required AdBlue. It's something the salesman told us. I've had a look on the VW website and it doesn't mention it on any of the used diesel vehicles.

EdGasketTheSecond wrote: »

Ad Blu doesn't sound like a great selling point. AA had 20,000 call outs due to Ad Blu running out and then the car refuses to start; not a great selling point which might explain the lack of info a little.

But there will be a warning to indicate it needs replacing. Certainly, on the wife's car it flagged up that there was less than 1000miles remaining on AdBlue. I've no idea about other marques.

facade

It is pretty hard to find any technical information on a manufacturers website/brochure on a new car, page after page on the infotainment and pretty bling, nothing on what you want to know like towing capacities, whether the gearbox is torque converter, stepped CVT or dual clutch etc....




I realise I'm just not part of the demographic they are aiming at any more...

Ergates

giraffe69 wrote: »

I don't understand why the press are not keener to highlight it.

I would think they simple don't think there would be enough interest in it to make it worth their while.

reeac

Modern car adverts don't cover engineering aspects ...that would be too booooring. Main selling point is how much it will cost per month and second point is what facilities it offers for playing music.