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ACEEE strips away VW's green car scores

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) is confirming that the Volkswagen diesel-emissions scandal has put a black mark on its green ratings. As a result, the group is pulling VW diesel vehicles off of its "Green Scores" list because it was recently revealed that VW diesels might be emitting as much as 40 times the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions during normal driving as the official test results show. The ACEEE added that other German makers of diesel vehicles' "Green Scores" are safe, for now. Diesels from VW and the company's Audi division didn't exacatly top the ACEEE's list of greenest vehicles for 2015. That honor went to electric vehicles like the Smart ForTwo ED, Chevrolet Spark EV and Fiat 500E. The Toyota Prius C hybrid snuck in at number 4, while the Nissan Leaf battery-electric took the fifth spot. That said, the VW diesels did perform pretty well, according to the group. "These scores are no longer reasonable estimations of the environmental impact of the Volkswagen diesels. Volkswagen's diesel cars have performed well on ACEEE's annual rankings since 2009, hovering just below our list of the top twelve "Greenest" vehicles with Green Scores in the high 40s," wrote Shruti Vaidyanathan, senior transportation researcher at the ACEEE. "However, a 40-fold increase in on-road NOx would mean that these vehicles did not deserve those high Green Scores." For those curious, the Ram 2500 pickup topped the ACEEE's "Meanest" vehicle of 2015, followed by the Chevrolet G2500 Express/GMC Savana. No diesels showed up on that list of environmentally-damaging vehicles. You can read the ACEEE's statement on VW below. Why we are suspending Volkswagen diesel Green Scores on greenercars.org by Shruti Vaidyanathan, Senior Transportation Researcher On September 18th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) slapped the Volkswagen Group with a notice of violation (link is external) of the Clean Air Act for circumventing EPA emission standards for nitrogen oxides (NOx). Volkswagen has now acknowledged using so-called "defeat devices" on its diesel cars that turn on full emissions control technologies while in testing mode but allow the vehicles to emit nitrogen oxide levels up to 40 times the certified level during normal operation.

How the VW diesels perform in cheat mode

Are you tired of the Volkswagen diesel emissions scandal? Yeah? We are, too. But here's a story that, at the very least, gives us something resembling answers about one of the most important questions surrounding the firestorm – how will the affected cars perform when they're in their emissions-cheating test mode? Consumer Reports was able to find out, tapping into what it believes is the cheat mode. By turning the car to accessory mode, flipping on the hazards, and tapping the gas pedal five times, CR was able to defeat the auto-engaged traction and stability controls, which it believes activates cheat mode. The safeties will reengage if it detects the rear wheels spinning, so the next step was what CR called "a hack." The team unplugged the rear wheel sensors, so the car's computers couldn't tell whether the wheels were spinning. By the way, don't try this at home. With that done, CR hit the road, testing both a 2011 Jetta Sportwagen TDI and a 2015 Jetta TDI sedan in their normal and cheat modes. Why both cars? Well, the 2011 uses the EA188 diesel, which represents the bulk of the affected cars, while the newer Jetta uses the latest EA288, which just arrived for model year 2015. The results are, in a word, interesting. The EA188 engine lost 0.6 seconds on the way to 60 miles per hour while in emissions-compliant cheat mode, and fuel economy fell from 50 miles per gallon to 46. For the newer EA288, the 0-60 difference was negligible – just a tenth of a second – while the fuel economy dipped from 53 to 50 mpg. There are a few takeaways here. First of all, and as suspected, running in cheat mode did hurt both performance and fuel economy. But perhaps more importantly, even in emissions-compliant mode, both vehicles easily beat their EPA fuel economy estimates. According to FuelEconomy.gov, the highest rated 2011 TDI Sportwagen, the manual-trans model, was rated at 30 mpg city and 42 mpg highway, with a combined rating of 34 (the auto drops the city and combined ratings by one mpg, while the highway falls by three). The best a 2015 Jetta TDI sedan can do according to Uncle Sam, meanwhile, is 31 city, 46 highway, and 36 combined with the manual (again, the auto is worse, but only by a single highway mpg). Related Video:

US-spec 2015 Volkswagen Golf and GTI to finally debut in New York

The seventh-generation Volkswagen Golf is hardly new to us. In fact, we've already driven it. And elsewhere in the world, the new Golf is already winning awards. Even so, we still have yet to see the US-spec version of the car, though that won't be the case much longer. As part of the New York Auto Show festivities later this month, Volkswagen will finally show off the 2015 Golf models destined for our shores.
Three different versions of the Golf will debut under the lights of New York City's Javits Center: the turbocharged TSI, oil-sipping TDI and hotter GTI. The first model in that list uses Volkswagen's new 1.8-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine, replacing the outgoing 2.5-liter naturally aspirated inline five-cylinder. The latter two models use familiar engines: the 2.0-liter TDI diesel and 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder, respectively.
Even though the new Golf officially debuts later this month, it won't go on sale in the US until the first quarter of 2014. We'll be waiting patiently.