It happened again! Bad news for Audi reputation!
(Admittedly it’s not that big of a deal because the impact wasn’t as far reaching as it was with VW since the cars that cheated sold in much lower quantities)
3 Likes
I don’t know whether to be happy for another modern VAG’s fail, or be sad for what modern Audi is compared to 80s and 90s…
I just think it’s hilarious that the acronym for the pollution police is CARB 
In other news, the editorial undercurrent seems to be that motorhead journalists don’t really think that all this emissions dodging and ‘cheating’ is new news, only that particularly egregious acts of fraud have made such big headlines that emissions control agencies are forced to get their shit together and it’s suddenly really awkward for everybody.
7 Likes
Having this kind of software is pretty much a given, everyone has always sort of let it out there that gearboxes were tuned for lower emissions, engine software had eco modes, etc, having them be a bit more clever and read more parameters was just a matter of time.
Also, the best system for me still is Fiat’s. The italians noticed that the tests take 15 minutes, so obviously the car runs in eco mode for 20 minutes after start up and then disables all of the low emissions equipment. Italian ingenuity at its best.
8 Likes
Makes you wonder if the emissions laws are possibly a little TOO restrictive? Automakers are a clever bunch.
Disclaimer: I do believe that emissions law schedule does ramp-up much too fast and as such is causing them to be overbearingly restrictive, and will cause them to be unbelievably so within the next 10 years.
5 Likes
They are indeed much too restrictive.
I consider everything over a 3-way catalytic converter and an EVAP system over-kill and unnecessary.
Tin-foil cap session start
It’s likely an attempt to drive cars out of the hands of the common man. Soon automakers will be forced to use nothing but hybrid technology and other absurdities which will double the price and running costs of cars, just to allow them to be sold.
Tin-foil cap session end
1 Like
It’s not that far-fetched a tin foil Cap speculation, in principle. It does oversimplify the motive though.
I just think that hybrids are a crap interim measure because at no point ever have I been under the impression that their manufacturing processes leave them any more net environmentally friendly over their life cycle tha n ICE only cars.
3 Likes
Rip In-Car Entertainment in the future /s
2 Likes
That’s another reason as to why I pulled up my tin-foil cap session. They’re not meant to be better for the environment, or even work well at all… they’re just here to bring up the prices and maintenance.
1 Like
It’s a marketing thing. Marketing can really pull the wool over the eyes of the public. Now packing your cars with expensive complicated tech is the sexy thing to do (like BMW’s very sharp about face from diesel SUVs post Dieselgate, where the X5 went from having diesel trim to having a hybrid AND turbocharger, holy shit let me wipe the jizz from my pants )
Personally I do mourn the passing of times when fuel economy was achieved through the car being light, and putting voodoo magic into your engine, like Mazda’s Skyactiv thing that returns bullshit figures for an NA (which is about time really since our 2002 Mazda6 returns something like 11L/100km on a mixed cycle wtf).
1 Like
They’d be better off focusing on developing cheap, relaible and recyclable batteries. Then electric cars will become cheap enough to become mainstream
Only if you don’t like clean air! Emissions laws makes the air cleaner in cities and reduces overall pollution levels at a local level. We need cheap, reliable electric cars, not next gen ICE’s.
They already are. Unless you have a CNC machine and metal forging facilities, all cars are outside the true reach of the common man. Where do you go when the part supply dries up? When the block has no meat left in it? When there are no airbag modules left! You can only patch and weld to a certain point then the car becomes un-viable. All it takes is for the State DMV or registration authority to include minimum pollution thresholds and your old car is now illegal to drive, no need to waste time and energy on slowly strangling the market!
The only people affected by the electrification of personal transport is us enthusiasts; everyone else won’t care, quite frankly.
3 Likes
Hell, I’m an enthusiast, and I’m all for Electric, as long as they look somewhat similar to what we have now (Tesla) than the previous attempts at electric.
3 Likes
Me too! I want Tesla performance and Toyota reliability that doesn’t break the bank. 
I’d also like to see electric conversion kits so that the ICE veterans can still keep the older cars on the road instead of in museums. 
2 Likes
Sounds like you’re talking about the homeless man; not the common man. Most people can afford a $5,000usd used car once every 5 years or a $10,000usd new car once every 10 years. Yes, the easy way out would be to ban older cars in general, but the shit-storm that will cause likely prevents it. No reason to do that either since the current soft-kill methods work farily well. Where I live, 10 year and older cars make up seemingly less than 10-15% of the cars on the road.
Electric cars are a sick joke to me… especially considering how expensive electricity is. It won’t break even until gasoline is over $4.50usd a gallon, and by the time electric cars are gaining any popularity, electricity will be even more expensive; especially since the paranoia about nuclear power set in after Fukushima. Electricity has to come from somewhere, and without nuclear plants it will be significantly more expensive.
1 Like
I’m just going to but into this discussion and say electric cars need to make noises and simulate gear changes so when they do replace petrol (which will not happen for a very very very long time) us enthusiasts can still make loud noises in our electric cars
4 Likes
Was it the electric SLS that replecated the noise of certain cars?
Lol, yeah, you’ll be able to download sound packages that play through your speakers to simulate the good times you’ll never have.
Frankly I never understood liking the volume aspect of the internal combustion automobile. And I think it’s ridiculously stupid to simulate engine noises in a car that simply isn’t designed to make them. One thing in the electric car’s favour is that less noise is a good thing, especially from an object that comes in as large a volume as cars do these days. Living near a main road wouldn’t be so damn unpalatable, and the only thing I’d have to contend with are the hoons out back who like doing burnouts and revving their V8s at 3am in the morning, because fuck you, apparently.
In short, get the hell over it.
4 Likes
Okay so many thoughts i have right now but cant bother to type through a phone
Continuing on the very las discussion then
Okay, question. Does the electric have to change to make a sound? Or do we have to change to get used to the silence of electric cars?
Because from what i’ve seen, people are just expecting their electric cars to act, behave, and have the characteristics of an ice car. They want the car to change to be something they are already used to, instead of them changing their habits and expectation.
And as long as one have that expectations, they will never accept electric cars as it is, and will always be let down
Also, would someone explain what is going on about mazda and their skyactive engine?
1 Like
cant we just find something that is petrol like that we can convert our engines to cope with and still have the awesome sound while being enviromentally friendly…?