How toxic is your cars exhaust?

[190]

Didn't Saab advertise that the exhaust gases that came out of their cars was cleaner than the air that went in in a dirty city, some time in the nineties?

Rolls Royce said the same about their revised 6.7 L pushrod V8. It was in Car Magazine about 30 years ago. I should still have it somewhere.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

But I don’t get too many jet planes passing within a few feet of my house and pumping out NOx for my two-year old daughter to ingest.

You'll need to move to Mid-Wales for that kind of thing.

 

[Dryce]

Being very old, I can't get too excited by the emissions saga. I worked in the 70's and 80's when the air in the Financial City and the West End was routinely yellow, and when some individual cars and Commercials issued issued enormous clouds of smoke. Yet somehow we lived.

I think there is no sense of perspective any more.

Generationally there is no recollection of heavy industry and power stations being located in close proximity to city centres with HGVs and buses regularly puttign out clouds of smopke and particulates.

The governments in Europe got carried away with their self righteousness and caused the private vehicle market to distort. Now they are starting on another bandwagon with the LEZs.

My view is that a bit of pragmatic apathy works better than half baked knee jerks. But the system is rigged against it because it's all about bandwagons - which is how we got here in the first place.

 

[KeithJG]

I expect there are a lot of smug owners with low emission motors and some have spent a lot of their savings on them also....

.....and along comes an ex hurricane and fills our cities with dust and sand from the Sahara.

I would rather spend my money on things i want and not what the Government want me to buy with their stupid rules and laws!

All these ideas that lever your money out of the wallet just to keep the economy going ....that`s all it is all about.

 

[Dryce]

I expect there are a lot of smug owners with low emission motors and some have spent a lot of their savings on them also....

I suspect the people who have spent their savings on a car are probably the ones most nervous of what is happening.

Those who are on PCPs and leases have their position covered.

I also suspect that there is a growing number of people with older cars that they might have changed - who are sitting watching. Some will be figuring that there might be incentives to trade older cars that have depreciated - others may be holding off not wanting to commit to a newer vehicle until they see the lie of the land.

I don't think smug really comes into it. Uncertainty is the real problem.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

I think there is no sense of perspective any more.

Generationally there is no recollection of heavy industry and power stations being located in close proximity to city centres with HGVs and buses regularly puttign out clouds of smopke and particulates.

The governments in Europe got carried away with their self righteousness and caused the private vehicle market to distort. Now they are starting on another bandwagon with the LEZs.

My view is that a bit of pragmatic apathy works better than half baked knee jerks. But the system is rigged against it because it's all about bandwagons - which is how we got here in the first place.

There's truth in what you say, what makes it worse is where changes can be easily measured as this gives an opportunity to set some arbitary

 

[grober]

Interesting article if somewhat sparse on detail. A couple of things caught my eye.
first article statement:-
Across the UK, vehicle pollution in the form of particulates and nitrogen oxides was killing 40,000 people per year, according to government figures.
second article statement:-
There is one big disappointment about the Skoda's test results, I discover a couple of days later - it proved impossible to get an accurate measurement of the particulates emitted. Molden is happy to say that Melvyn emitted a negligible quantity of particulates whereas the Skoda emitted more, but due to a technical problem I cannot publish the exact value.

" So Sergeant when you searched the suspect for weapons you found no knives is that correct?"
"That is correct milud".
"But Sergeant what about the axe that was found buried in the victims head?"
"Regrettably milud due to technical difficulties we were not empowered to search for axes at the time"
"Did you not think that the assailants nickname mad axeman jack might have given you a clue?"
"As I said milud --due to technical difficulties----------------?

this prompted me to follow up a little on the technical side
EC899AA
2004 Golf Mk3 1.8 GL Likely AAM/ANN engine--- likely fuel system PIERBURG CARBURETTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
no wonder the oxides of nitrogen figures were thro the roof!

AK59DVZ
Skoda 1896cc Pumpe Duse injection system without a DPF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my guess -- no particulate figures could be gained from the Skoda because it blocked up the particulate monitoring system.

So an entertaining article which stimulates discussion but falls down in a major fashion on the technical detail. On that basis it would dangerous to use it as any reference as to the advisability of running an older car in London.

 

[Deleted member 6183]

There's truth in what you say, what makes it worse is where changes can be easily measured as this gives an opportunity to set some arbitary

Christ I was so bored I couldn't be bothered finishing my own post!

 

[GeeJayW]

Interesting article if somewhat sparse on detail. A couple of things caught my eye.
first article statement:-
Across the UK, vehicle pollution in the form of particulates and nitrogen oxides was killing 40,000 people per year, according to government figures.
second article statement:-
There is one big disappointment about the Skoda's test results, I discover a couple of days later - it proved impossible to get an accurate measurement of the particulates emitted. Molden is happy to say that Melvyn emitted a negligible quantity of particulates whereas the Skoda emitted more, but due to a technical problem I cannot publish the exact value.

" So Sergeant when you searched the suspect for weapons you found no knives is that correct?"
"That is correct milud".
"But Sergeant what about the axe that was found buried in the victims head?"
"Regrettably milud due to technical difficulties we were not empowered to search for axes at the time"
"Did you not think that the assailants nickname mad axeman jack might have given you a clue?"
"As I said milud --due to technical difficulties----------------?

this prompted me to follow up a little on the technical side
EC899AA
2004 Golf Mk3 1.8 GL Likely AAM/ANN engine--- likely fuel system PIERBURG CARBURETTOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
no wonder the oxides of nitrogen figures were thro the roof!

AK59DVZ
Skoda 1896cc Pumpe Duse injection system without a DPF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
my guess -- no particulate figures could be gained from the Skoda because it blocked up the particulate monitoring system.

So an entertaining article which stimulates discussion but falls down in a major fashion on the technical detail. On that basis it would dangerous to use it as any reference as to the advisability of running an older car in London.

1994 MkIII Golf, so Euro 1, quite possibly carburettor, could be oxidation only catalyst. In both cases whatever NOx is produced in the engine, would spew out of the tailpipe unchecked.

 

[grober]

You are right of course 1994

 

[Benzowner]

Been around long enough to see many of these "fads". Tax smokers heavily, oh nearly everyone's given up, tax CO2 emissions, oh diesel gives off less CO2, ok lets tax NOX, when that is sorted, they will find something else, probably cost of battery disposal and cost of battery removal as the car can't be crushed with them in. If things are so bad, why are we living longer? Maybe they want us to live longer, work longer, pay more tax during the extra years worked, why not just put up income tax.........sharp intake of breath, more NOX pollution

 

[Delayed Steve]

Never mind toxic exhausts, what about wood burners? It stinks around here at night. Maybe they'll be the next tax earner...

 

[grober]

In the short term the thing most likely to stymie the widespread adoption of electric cars will be the lack of supporting infrastructure. --- A lack of widely distributed charging points and enough of them, and more importantly a lack of national generator capacity to answer a huge increase in demand should the bulk of the car driving populace all adopt electrical propulsion. ICE will be with us for some time to come but will almost certainly be bannned from densely populated areas experiencing vehicle pollution issues meaning a restriction of their previous "go anywhere" abilities. For now and possibly some time in the future hybrid = petrol + battery propulsion would appear to be the way to go rather than 100% electric. Or ----possibly two vehicles with both those disparate methods of propulsion if you can afford it.

 

[PenelopePitstop]

I checked equaindex site but couldn't find AMGs there, at least not the ones I owned or own. I guess not too many to test in real life.
My newly acquired diesel is on the list of C0 in category A+ and seems to be a bit far from manufacturer's data in Co2 category, official 157g/km, on Equa Index F 225-250g/km. The same for official mpg and tested mpg but that's not a surprise. However I'm achieving better mpg than tested by this company. Different type and style of driving.

Anyway, as petrolhead, my choice of car will always be based on fun/likeability/usefulness factor, rather than clean air. Sorry, I'm not environmentally friendly in this case, but I'm not driving in cities or stuck in traffic there.

 

[David404]

I suspect the people who have spent their savings on a car are probably the ones most nervous of what is happening.
Those who are on PCPs and leases have their position covered.

If we are talking about those with new cars I don't think the method of funding (outright purchase or PCP) will make much difference, such buyers are likely to sell/return the vehicle at 3-5 years old. Only those who acquired before the scandal started to hit are likely to see any difference. Any PCP deal taken out recently is likely to have differences in market valuations factored in.

Some who outright purchased a used car (as I did) may be adversely affected at trade in time but given age/mileage of car I purchased and personal circumstances PCP was never under consideration.

 

[Wolfie1]

See the funny thing about road tax, no emissions tax, no sorry again wealth tax, thats it wealth tax is exactly what it is, i have done emissions tests on these £35 a year these cheap eco cars and i have done emission tests on c63 amg which is £480 (someone correct me if im wrong) because of the emissions they supposedly produce. Well the max pass limit for co is 0.20% so eco cars average 0.08% and the c63 is 0.00% and yet its in the expensive tax brand, so it cannot be an emissions tax!

 

[GeeJayW]

See the funny thing about road tax, no emissions tax, no sorry again wealth tax, thats it wealth tax is exactly what it is, i have done emissions tests on these £35 a year these cheap eco cars and i have done emission tests on c63 amg which is £480 (someone correct me if im wrong) because of the emissions they supposedly produce. Well the max pass limit for co is 0.20% so eco cars average 0.08% and the c63 is 0.00% and yet its in the expensive tax brand, so it cannot be an emissions tax!

Is that emissions test or MOT emissions checks?

 

[Wolfie1]

Is that emissions test or MOT emissions checks?

Same thing isint it? But mot emissions test

 

[Alps]

My Mk1 Golf qualifies for the Toxic zone in london but my E63 doesnt!

 

[GeeJayW]

Same thing isint it? But mot emissions test

No, not the same thing.