In wake of VW scandal, emitting some aggravation

I thought I was doing a smart thing when I bought a new 2009 VW Jetta turbodiesel. I was looking for better gas mileage, so it was the Jetta or a Prius. I drove both, and for me there simply was no comparison.

The Prius felt a bit school-marmish, accelerating slowly with an airy whoosh, not a mechanical growl, and it certainly was unimpressive in the braking and handling departments.

The diesel Jetta, on the other hand, accelerated strongly with its torquey engine and instantaneous gearshifts, and the braking and handling were solid, controlled and confidence-inspiring. It was a driver’s car, not just transportation. I blame my father for the way I blend romance and practicality in the way I think about cars.

I owned some real clunkers over the years, cars that appealed to me for all the wrong reasons and nearly always turned out to be costly disasters. That rust-riddled 1970 Mercedes was one of those poor purchases, and the 1980 Bertone X1/9, while charismatic with its targa top and a blast to drive, was completely impractical. I sold both to new owners with a bit of regret but mainly relief.

So I felt good when I got the Jetta. It really was a fun car to drive, and the mileage was impressive. I once made it to DC and back on a single tank of diesel fuel. It demolished all the old saws about diesel cars (remember those Peugeots?) being noisy, stinky and slow. The Jetta was none of those. The terrific sound system didn’t hurt.

I sold it earlier this year, because my wife and I spend time living on a dirt road in Pennsylvania, and in the winter (and fall and spring, often) we need the security of all-wheel drive. So off went the Jetta to a new owner in Fuquay-Varina, and in came a Subaru Legacy.

Six months after that I learned the news of Volkswagen’s deceit and the likelihood that my old car was spewing illegal and, I believe, immoral clouds of nitrogen oxide, a pollutant that can cause emphysema, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases. Will we ever know just which German engineers had the brainstorm to game the emission controls? And now, what will those engineers do to rein in the emissions from millions of engines? It seems impossible.

I have thought a lot about this emission crisis, and I still cannot quite fathom how it works. I mean, when the emission controls are defeated, the car uses less fuel but produces more power and more nitrogen oxide. Of course, this is a question for the scientists and emission regulators.

On a more practical level, what is the owner of one of those cars to do? In my neighborhood, Boylan Heights, a number of people own VW turbodiesels. For the moment, they need do nothing and continue to drive as they have, and as their consciences allow. The big questions come a bit farther down the road.

Can they, as I did, sell the car to a new owner who thinks it is a good buy? Some states have made noise about halting the sales and safety testing of these vehicles, so their registrations expire. Others will expect VW to take the helm and just fix the problems.

A problem is that the “fixed” cars are likely not to be the cars their owners have loved and expected to keep driving. Once the exceptional torque and mileage disappear, the diesel Jettas are just other Jettas, good cars but lacking the driverly panache that made them so attractive.

I am a wholehearted believer of robust pollution controls. I remember all too well the terrible pollution when my family and I lived in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia, in 1991. No one, ever, anywhere should have to inhale that brown air with the scent of coal, creosote and diesel.

The solution now is to force VW to fix all those cars and to impose even stronger pollution controls on cars yet to be built, no longer allowing car manufacturers to regulate themselves and to work toward making sure the air we all breathe does not threaten our health.

This story was originally published October 3, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "In wake of VW scandal, emitting some aggravation."