Hi all,
I'd like to find what the actual trade-in value for my TDI was in September 2015, not just what VW says they'll give me for it now. Hate to lose this engine - loved everything about it except the clean emissions and fuel efficiency claims(based on fraudulent data) that were key to my buying it....my 5th VW.
Thanks,
Except for NOx emissions being way out of spec, emissions in all of the other categories of regulated emissions are well under the Tier 2 Bin 5 limits and were not a concern at all and they are significantly LOWER than from their gasser counterparts. It's a regulatory compliance issue and a huge problem for VW and not an environmental issue. Any gasoline car you would replace the car with will have lower NOx emissions but emissions in all other categories (GHG, HC, VOC, PM) will be significantly HIGHER. Levels of deadly Carbon Monoxide (CO) alone will only be 28x higher from the gasser of the same engine size compared to the TDI. And then there's also the environmental damage associated with the manufacture of a replacement car for your TDI. Your TDI although non-compliant is still a very clean car in the grand scheme of things and significantly cleaner than cars of only a few years ago. Check out the links in my sig below to
wxman's excellent pages for more information.
You can simply KEEP IT if you don't want to part with it and don't want it neutered by VW. You don't have to take any buyback or fix if you don't want to. Nobody is being forced to get rid of their cars. It's still the same car today as it was before the scandal happened.
Everybody's situation is different and VW is making it attractive for owners to take the buyback money or take a fix plus some money when a fix becomes available. Owners have up to 2 years to decide what to do so there is no rush. You can also choose to not to anything at all if you want absolutely no part of what VW is offering. If your state requires any open emissions related recall(s) to be performed in order to renew registration, they can't hold you to a fix that doesn't exist yet. Given your TDI is a Gen1 TDI, their currently is no fix for it (IIRC) and VW will likely run the clock out on this one. I know of several owners who are planning to take the fix + money and then use the money to get their car un-fixed afterwards and then keep the car like nothing ever happened.
You have several options and plenty of time so no need to panic.
Good luck and
Welcome to TDIclub.
