As the Volkswagen diesel scandal blankets the industry like so many, well, carcinogenic particulates, the doom has begun to encroach as far as my own garage. And I’m pissed.
Careful observers of this space—Hi, Dad!—will recall that I spent my own dwindling funds to outfitmywifewith anAudiQ7TDI. Its 3.0-liter V-6,wewere told, was safe from scandal. But now the EPA is claiming, under its widening investigation, that 3.0-liter–equippedAudi,Porsche, and Volkswagen diesel vehicles are also noncompliant.While ourQ7used to be true blue, the soot-stained vultures are nowcircling.
I shouldn’t get emotional about it. The EPA emissions tests are bitterly divorced from real-world behaviors; they are chiefly a way to control for key variables such as weather, speed, etc. All vehicles, whether diesel- or gas-powered, emitmore thanthese compliance testsmeasure. And I understand that the current…
