My wife and I buy a new car only once every decade, whether we need to or not. In 2002, with Baby #3 on the way, we shed any vestiges of “coolness” by getting a Honda minivan. In 2011, I campaigned hard for a Jetta Sportwagen TDI because I’m a tree-hugger and loved the great gas mileage along with the benefits of the “clean diesel” engine that VW was promoting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNS2nvkjARk

 

Turns out we’ve been living a lie. VW was gaming the system with a software cheat that tricked emissions testing, something that was uncovered by a professor at WVU. All this time I thought I was doing the environment a solid, while in reality we were driving a nitrogen oxide belching beast.

We don’t put a ton of miles on the Jetta. I still commute to work via bus most days, and have for the past 20 years, so that helps assuage my green guilt over this “diesel dupe.” But that’s not the point – the point is VW did not sell us the car they promised, and we feel betrayed.

vw

The good news is by 2020 Teslas might actually be in our price range.