No TDI for tongodeon
I've been looking for a new car since the White Windowless Child Molester Van Of Doom isn't exactly the most comfortable vehicle for driving up and down I-5. The VW Golf TDI ("turbo diesel") is a top pick for me: it gets better highway mileage than a Prius with far fewer parts, doesn't have batteries that need to be replaced, and can earn the approval of filthy hippies without actually helping the environment. I called a VW dealership this morning and told the salesman I was looking for a TDI Golf. He said "Yeah buddy, good luck!" and hung up on me.
The salesman at the next dealership was a little more helpful. He explained that TDIs cannot be sold in California. Apparently that's not quite true: TDIs *could* be sold in California, but the state places "fleet average emissions limits" and it looks like VW would rather sell more regular gasoline cars, at least until low-sulfur diesel starts coming out of gas pumps. The California biodiesel hippies are under attack by California the clean air hippies in a hippie-on-hippie bloodbath with me in the crossfire. I'm tempted to give my brother in Arizona the money to buy a TDI for me and register it at his address until I've driven the 7500 miles required to register it in California. Apparently VW are re-designing the engine to be legal in California, but that model won't appear until 2007 and I'll probably need a car before then.
The salesman at the next dealership was a little more helpful. He explained that TDIs cannot be sold in California. Apparently that's not quite true: TDIs *could* be sold in California, but the state places "fleet average emissions limits" and it looks like VW would rather sell more regular gasoline cars, at least until low-sulfur diesel starts coming out of gas pumps. The California biodiesel hippies are under attack by California the clean air hippies in a hippie-on-hippie bloodbath with me in the crossfire. I'm tempted to give my brother in Arizona the money to buy a TDI for me and register it at his address until I've driven the 7500 miles required to register it in California. Apparently VW are re-designing the engine to be legal in California, but that model won't appear until 2007 and I'll probably need a car before then.