The buying opportunity of a lifetime is here, thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of California: You can now buy a brand-new two-year-old Volkswagen or Audi TDI at what should be a cut-rate price.
Volkswagen received approval today to sell new 2015 TDI models with the 2.0-liter diesel four-cylinder, or what’s known as the Generation 3 engine. A software update will delete Volkswagen?s illegal emissions programming, while a few physical parts (exact details are not yet available) will be swapped out later as part of a recall. The cars can be sold and driven now without the new hardware, which won?t be ready until early next year, according to a report in Automotive News. Only the 2015 Jetta, Golf, Beetle, Passat, and Audi A3 diesels are approved for sale. Any older 2.0-liter TDI models or 2015 TDI models with the 3.0-liter V-6 are still barred. A similar update and recall will be offered for 2013?2016 3.0-liter models later this year. VW had been working on a repair for the Gen 3 engines since July 2016 and received approval in January. Only now can it carry out the repairs and resell the cars. There are roughly 12,000 new cars in dealer inventory and 67,000 used cars, the majority of which have been sitting in enormous parking lots across the country since VW began buying them back in November 2016. VW and Audi dealers have not been allowed to sell new or used TDI models since the diesel-emissions scandal broke in September 2015 and triggered ...