The State of The Car

[Rasmus]

I know I'm sounding old and grumpy, but..

Those Sharkwerks stroker GT3s look more and more appealing.

[Ferrer]

If someone is curious about how it sounds, here it is.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3zVZPN6b_o"]2016 Porsche 911 Carrera S 3.0 Biturbo Exhaust Sound - YouTube[/ame]

[Kitdy]

I know I'm sounding old and grumpy, but..

Those Sharkwerks stroker GT3s look more and more appealing.

I can't wait to be an old man so it will be socially acceptable for me to be grumpy.

[f6fhellcat13]

It's got the same artificial sound as the F-Type.

[Kitdy]

The F-Type doesn't sound artificial to me. Sure, they "designed" the sound, but that's been common practice for what, decades? They just did it better with the F-Type.

[NSXType-R]

Not raspy enough for a flat 6 engine.

[Ferrer]

The F-Type doesn't sound artificial to me. Sure, they "designed" the sound, but that's been common practice for what, decades? They just did it better with the F-Type.

Indeed.

At least the sound doesn't come from the speakers.

[Rasmus]

I'm sure the 911 will sound much better in real life. That said, turbos have an uncanny ability to muffle the giggly parts of the exhaust sound.

As efficient as they are, I will never not love the sound of a big displacement, high compression, angry, naturally aspirated motor.

I can't wait to be an old man so it will be socially acceptable for me to be grumpy.

I just sound old and grumpy. Really I'm just grumpy.

[Ferrer]

Volkswagen in very serious trouble, as it turns out.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/billvisn...-like-the-fix/

[NSXType-R]

My wording may be slightly off, but my snark is there- might be a hypothetical Sniff Petrol headline.

"Hippie VW Enthusiasts Actually Enjoy Unintentionally Rolling Coal"

So much for all that positive brand equity from Audi TDI Le Mans wins. It's an ingenous workaround, but honestly, how long was VW expecting to get away with it?

[pimento]

If we suddenly hear no more about VAG entering F1 with Red Bull, I think we know why.. and where they got the 7 billion dollars to put aside for this.

[Kitdy]

Diesel may be starting a decline for use in commuter vehicles. It may become toxic in North America again after this, and the EU (France even!) is moving away from it. It seems as though clean diesel may be a bit of a myth, even with expensive treatment systems. Ah well.

Electrons it is!

[f6fhellcat13]

I am happily eating my slice of schadenfreude pie...

It has been pointed out that it is ludicrous that regulations (especially in the EU) seem to favor the reduction of global levels of CO2 while indirectly promoting (with diesel subsidies) the production of local oxides of nitrogen and other noxious gases. It is gratifying to see it proven to diesel enthusiasts that their free lunch is a lie.

[Ferrer]

What strikes me most of all is the hypocrisy of people who have been very publicly disgusted by the Volkswagen-gate, yet drive around in diesels (or downsized turbo petrols, which apparently are just as bad if not worse). In truth, we do not really care about health, we care about our wallet.

Having said that, ending the diesel reign in Europe is very easy indeed. Just stop having lower taxes on diesel compared to petrol and slowly the market will be rebalanced to its natural state.

Although what if people ended up in Camrys and Malibus instead of Passats and 508s...?

[NSXType-R]

The funny thing is that hybrids are at least as bad for the environment as diesels are, yet no one ever complains about it. If you look up how rare earth metals are mined, you'd be surprised how damaging it can be. China produces a large majority of the world's rare earth metals because surprise, they don't care about the environment. The US is shifting more production of rare earth metals, but I think China still supplies more than 50% of the world's rare earth metals, which are used in batteries and the motors. The only problem is, it's so hard to account for all the pollution from all the individual mines that you don't see the end pollution.

I've never really fully supported hybrids mostly for this reason.

It's the same thing with electric cars- where do you think the electricity comes from? In the US, it's mostly just natural gas and coal produced. Coal has lots of mercury in it. So if you think you're doing the environment a favor, think again. Unless we move mostly to nuclear energy, which is highly unlikely, you're still using fossil fuels.