81 MPG golf TDI! ***Pre VW cheat scandal***

Kelly Blue Book (KBB) is a website where people go to check the value of their car or a car they might be interested in buying. KBB has been keeping an eye on the auction prices of Volkswagen diesel vehicles that were affected by the emission scandal and has found that values on those vehicles have declined significantly.


According to KBB, Volkswagen diesel vehicles have seen auction prices decline by 16% since the emission scandal started. The row has also affected prices on VW gas vehicles as well, KBB figures show that auction values for gas VW vehicles have declined by 2.9%.

New car shopping activity for VW TDI models has declined by 2.4%. The most significant declines in VW model values are for the VW Golf SportWagen and Gold with decreases in shopping activity of 6.2% and 3.7% respectively. KBB also notes that the diesel row has Audi A3 shoppers looking at competing models.

The most commonly cross-shopped vehicles are the Lexus NX, BMW 2-Series, and the Mercedes CLA. KBB says that KBB traffic for VW diesel models has generally decreased after a slight increase due to bad publicity. VW still hasn’t said how it plans to fix the vehicles that are affected by the emission cheating

 

Not as many people want to risk lots of money on an unknown, with possible large losses. I can easily see why the decline in KBB prices.

 

Maybe he just didn't notice that James Bond oil slick it was throwing out

.

 

News was slow last night so I Googled a place I avoid because it so often disappoints and noticed this:

"What I am concerned about going forward is having two 48-State Lowest Fuel Consumption Guinness World Records stripped because of this."​

VW 'Clean' also meant bragging rights.

Bob Wilson

 

We have an answer: Volkswagen's Guinness World Records Are Under Investigation » AutoGuide.com News

. . . self-professed hypermiler Wayne Gerdes, who released a statement following news from the EPA of VW’s cheating ways. “I am disappointed with the VW managers that authorized the tampering code inclusion for US-based TDIs,” reads a release on his site CleanMPG.

Despite the situation, Gerdes, does not dismiss diesel technology bur rather says that, “The power, torque, and efficiency of diesel still holds just as true today as it did yesterday.”

“As soon as the EPA emissions Certificates of Compliance are released on the 2016 VW TDIs, you can bet I will be back behind the wheel of one of those fantastic automobiles to once again prove they are some of the most efficient cars on the road to own and drive.”

Gerdes said he reached out to the Guinness World Records immediately following the troubling news, telling AutoGuide.com that he’d rather have a clean record, than a world record.

“I am not one who would stand on a tainted record. While I spent well over a thousand hours in prep and driving time to earn both VW TDI 48-State Lowest Fuel Consumption records, if they were not ‘cleanly’ earned, I do not deserve them,” he said. “I am sure VW feels the same.”​

Good on Wayne.

I joined Guinness (account is free) and their search function only lists an Audi 1.6L diesel mileage record. Apparently the previous VW TDI records have disappeared. Only the articles written before Sept 18 citing the record remain. The problem of outdated articles remains.

Bob Wilson

 

That article is rather old. More recent information from Wayne indicates that the record is still considered valid.

482,000 VW TDIs Produce 5 to 35Xs the NOx Beyond Federal Emissions Requirements | Page 17 | CleanMPG

 

wayne doesn't get to make the rules. anyway, vdub drivers with their eyes open know the real score.

 

In case I was unclear, here's what Guinness said in October.

 

They ARE illegal now AND they were illegal then! C'mon, people, if my car didn't pass emissions I do not get to drive it legally. Sure I can still drive it since the car is not impounded or anything..no tags, no insurance, etc. but it sure as hell is illegal. Why do we allow the law-breakers these types of passes? enforcement of rules is just as important as setting the rules up in the 1st place! Damn. rant over. My fix for this (VW diesel gate)? crush 'em like GM did. Send the owners the Full retail value. GET THOSE ILLEGAL VEHICLES OFF MY ROADS. I love that irony. Perfectly good tailpipe emission-free vehicles are taken off the road...PERMANENTLY (EV1). Cheating diesels? Meh, you go ahead and keep driving...It's maddening. sorry, i guess my rant wasn't over.

 

Which court has said that it is illegal to drive on public roads? I do not know of anybody who has been pulled over yet or had their car impounded for it being illegal.

 

It is illegal to modify or circumvent the emission controls of a car. Otherwise, VW wouldn't be in the trouble they are in. If it had been done by the individual owner, they too could be facing some stiff fines, but mostly they just get a failed emission inspection in the states that have them. There is a grace period for a repair then, but after that, they will be fined for driving a car that hasn't passed the inspection.

Guiness' stance, and possibly the legal one, is that the car owners didn't break the law, and were unaware of any wrong doing on VW's part. Since they weren't ordered to park their cars when VW was ordered to stop sales, then they are still legally able to drive them. It can get messy for inspections depending on what the individual states do.

 

I had no luck finding the records January 14th when I used the Guinness site search function. Can you find a URL for the records on the Guinness site?

This is what I just got 5 minutes ago:


The "Longest fuel range (Standard)" was not the records in question. Understand, I think Wayne's earlier request was the right thing. I would not care if the records remained with an asterisk about the cheat-diesel, VW software.

I don't think they 'retire' records for age: 1966: Fastest Jet-powered Train | Guinness World Records

Bob Wilson

 

Lowest fuel consumption driving to 48 contiguous US States (diesel car) | Guinness World Records

 

Thanks!

I see two comments already so it has a functional asterisk:

Jimmy Forrest ·
And poised the planet while doing so.....via the "VW emissons defeat device scandal". Lets try again with a legal ECU patch. Just my opinion...I feel this should be revisited
Like · Reply · 1 · Jan 9, 2016 7:08pm


Gerald Rowley ·
University of Miami
What would it do with a legal ecu? Just think how much NoX they spewed out along the way!
Like · Reply · Jan 11, 2016 4:58am​

I have no doubt that VW or a VW dealer helped support this effort so I'm patient. But the Guinness search function . . . reminds me of the "Handbook" in the movie "Beatlejuice". Guinness wins the most obscura search function award, "You can't get there from here unless you know the way."

Good enough,
Bob Wilson

 

At least two benchmarks found the MPG numbers were off. Not by much but enough to reverse the "Portland-to-Portland" stunt by GreenHuman. One was a USA test that simply did a 4-wheel dyno test and the second a BBC test where they just ran the same test a second time without turning off the car.

My foggy memory says something like 48 MPG -> 44 MPG, roughly 10%. I'll see if I can find the specific references.

• - "The bottom line is, we observed a power loss of approximately 10.5% when simulating the emissions testing procedure."
• - 53 -> 50 MPG and 50 -> 46 MPG
• VW cars can also cheat European emissions tests, BBC learns - BBC News

Bob Wilson

 

it may never get to the court system, since the epa has all the necessary authority. if guiness is happy with their blinders, that's their right. when people start seeing you don't use facts for your records, they start losing interest in your records. the beer is still good though.

 

It depends on the model. First generation cars (2009-2014 Jetta and Golf) had the most to gain by cheating. Second gen (2011-2014 Passat) and third gen (2015+ Jetta, Golf, and Passat) use urea aftertreatment for the exhaust, so there is less benefit to the cheat in terms of MPG, if any at all. For the record setting Golf in particular, it was a third gen car and I am confident that it would still be able to set the record once it has a legal software tune.