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Date: Mon, 19 Apr 1999 01:01:31 +0200
From: Hauke Hagenhoff <Hauke.Hagenhoffnopsamde>
Subject: Re: Audi weak????


Russell Watson wrote: > America has stricter emissions laws than Europe, I often hear that, but i can hardly believe it. Does any1 by chance have the numbers? High emissions are legal, but have negative results on the taxation, so every company tries to make their cars comply to - E2 (European level 2, common sense 2 years ago) - D3 (German (Deutsch) level 3 (planned to become E3), common sense today - D3 5l (as D3, but the car consumes an average of max. 5l/100km (Regular or Premium)) - D3 3l (as D3, but the car consumes an average of max. 3l/100km (Regular or Premium)) - D4 (German (Deutsch) level 4 (planned to become E4), available with some cars today The Porsche 911 is D3 compliant since years, it was one of the very first cars to have D3 Some VWs are D4 compliant. D3-5l and D3-3l are unreachable for power cars, but D3 and D4 are and most German cars i know of comply to D3. Now to the comparison: The VW TDI with 90hp is 50 state-legal and of course D3 compliant. The Chrysler 300M is E2 compliant (It would also comply with D3 but Chrysler didn't perform the tests. So you can also see how American companies try hard to be unsuccessful in Europe). As a conclusion we can say, that it's either a tale that American emission laws are stricter (Because the aforesaid cars are in the same German emission level and both are US legal), or it's either a minimalistic difference, that some cars that might be on only the high end of D3 fail to be US-legal. I think it's more a problem of the target market: YOUR speed limit is 120km/h. Mercedes recommends a traveling speed of 140km/h, that's already 20km/h higher. And an M3, M5 or Audi S8 is certainly not made to travel at 140km/h. As a result, German engines are designed to perform best between 130km/h and 200km/h (For you, these cars are slow, as you drive them at 120km/h and rarely feel the need to pass a car that drives 180km/h A car for the American market is best, when it performs best in the 60-140km/h range... Btw: an unmodified Trans Am overheats at 170km/h sustained speed That also means, that a car can profit from modifications made to match the target market. And to my knowledge there are also limitations for US citizens not based on emission laws. You also can't get all Ruf-modified Porsche and i think it's because of the power output. So add less power output for more torque + laws and you get what you get 8-) BTW: A powerful performer can also be worse for pulling heavy trailers and automatic transmissions are in most, if not all, cases also worse for pulling a trailer than manual transmissions. Bye Hauke

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