Featured Diesel Engine Maker, Cummins, Copies VW Dieselgate

It would be great if the settlement worked like the one for Volkswagen where they completely agreed to switch over to Electric vehicles.

 

(Not complaining) I had made a thread about this in the Diesel section. I didn't know if it would have been better in the EV and Hybrids News section.

Dieselgate 2.0 Cummins and Ram | PriusChat

I'm not convinced that VW will make any good EV's. I'm less convinced that Cummins or Stellantis will either.

 

Cummins makes good diesel engines. The cheating occurs in emissions controls. It is more expensive to properly use a SCR device and fluid to reduce NOx than to cheat. If they didn't cheat then people would not pay enough more for a diesel pick up truck. The widespread cheating has occurred with both the push for diesel and self testing.

I believe if full costs where there then phev trucks would be sold instead of diesels, but ... people love their diesels. They and the companies should have to provide proper emissions not cheating the way vw and commins have done. Now once it is a phev truck diesel versus gasoline versus methanol really does not favor diesel.

I believe VW will eventually make good ev's. They just need more time to copy tesla and other makers. Cummins probably never. The fine is the proper thing, but it needs to be high enough to stop the cheating.

 

I don't know what the future will bring as far as vehicles go. There's a lot of optimism for EV's, but as someone who doesn't make a whole lot of money and probably never will, the future is a bit more uncertain.

Our 1985 MK II non-turbo VW Golf diesel was a great car IMO. I liked the small size, the stick shift was fun, it got great fuel mileage, and it just would not die. And it lasted, and lasted and lasted, with at least 500,000 miles on it when I got rid of it. And it still ran just fine!

Modern diesels, however, no longer have the reputation of being the most fuel efficient nor having the most longevity.

But I can't say that EV's have proven to be any better. There are reports of Teslas getting 400,000 miles on a battery, but also Teslas that have needed a battery replacement not that much after the 100,000 mile warranty was surpassed.

I'm not sure if I'll get another hybrid again either. The Prius has been a pain to get going, and still isn't going again after 2 years. And the Avalon has me worried that it will need a new battery soon that costs thousands and thousands of dollars.

Only time will tell how things will turn out, but when I need another car, I'm going to go for the one that meets my minimum practicallity requirements and that's the cheapest to own.

 

And a Toyota division got caught cheating on crash tests. Marketing pressures....

 

oh you of little faith .... when/if VW puts their heart into it - they can truly blow out the competition. Their record setting on Pikes Peak hasn't been beat now for about ½ a decade.

>14,000' (2.6+ miles) altitude rise & over 16 mi long - in under 8 minutes. The thing is - whether or not they really choose to.
.

 

My main concerns are price and durability. I don't care how much power the car actually has. 25hp per every 1,000lbs of vehicle is fine with me.

 

Given the quality of VW's "Electrify America," they must have put the managers of the diesel cheating in charge control. Reliable and affordable charging was not achieved.

Bob Wilson

 

If it adds a few thousand bucks each to the MSRP of similary-equipped future vehicles, I'm good.

I think very polluting vehicles should be available in the American spirit of freedom. But they should also be eye-wateringly expensive.

/ just one opinion

 

With a small pipe from the exhaust to the cabin.

Bob Wilson

 

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Unfortunately safety regulations have stopped companies from making light vehicles like the golf you owned. Much of the safety weight doesn't really make us much safer but adds to cost. Fortunately emissions regulations have stopped companies from making polluting diesels like the one in that vehicle. Was out on the patio of a bar on Thursday night and all of a sudden we all smelled diesel. First friend said how did that pass emissions. The second friend who writes software for the Texas dmv, chimed in what I know they don't test old diesels because they don't have equipment that would work with that much pollution so they get a pass hoping they will all die. Bad news for all texans is next year emissions testing goes away so no one will be checking if people modify their cars to pollute more.

The good news is it is not much more in inflation adjusted dollars to get a non hybrid corrola hatch that gets the same mileage as that old vw diesel. Gasoline engines and pollution control have come a long way since 1985. I have a friend with an old (1988) camry with 250,000 miles that she lent me when my car was in an accident. It still runs fine and is about the same size and the current corrola (a little smaller) but she drives a honda crv most of the time. In order to get a stick shift it would be civic hatch 1.5L stick and price goes up but it still is very efficient (31mpg combined versus 35mpg combined for the vw and toyota), and adjusting for the extra energy in diesel that civic still is about as effienct in terms of energy. The civic and corola are much safer and have more creature comforts but really I get the nastalgia. I just hated the pollution from the old diesels, and to get it down the price goes up higher than hybrids.

It all depends on your miles and driving. I would say tesla has greatly improved battery manufacturing and that you are likely to be under waranty if their is an initial defect that would kill it before 10 years and all the miles you want. Definitely don't think hybrids are worth it today but may be again by the time you replace the avalon, or maybe phevs or bevs will have dropped in price. Covid supply chain issues have been creating havoc in car pricing but those are going away.

 

Safety regulations don't prohibit 3-wheeled motorcycles to come about if people truly wanted something less expensive - yet small w/out regard to safety regulations. Consider how Aptera has tried to move beyond the prenatal stage - tho that might partly be due to mismanagement. idk ...
.

 

There's a guy with a big something-or-other, about a block the other side of our main avenue: BIG pick-up truck, black, jacked up, late model, and definitely diesel. We were walking by with the dog the other day while he was firing up, very redolent, just scooted to get upwind.

 

I get a chuckle when I talk to the owner of one of those jacked up vanity trucks with their 25 inch wheels. I could run the first 90k miles for what those wheels cost. And then there are those who run by in the parking lot with windows open and aftermarket stereos blaring. I want to stop them and urge them to start saving for hearing aids. The look at me generation.

 

Idle speculation but my pizza pan, wheel covers, would make great speakers:

Bob Wilson