Get Ready to Line Up for a 2015 Volkswagen TDI!

If you’ve felt left out of the Volkswagen diesel affair until now, chin up. You’ll soon be able to purchase your very own piece of automotive scandal history.

The Environmental Protection Agency has approved the sale of 2015 Volkswagen Group vehicles equipped with Generation 3 2.0-liter diesel engines, making this the first time any of the half-million-plus sidelined vehicles have been legally available to customers since the scandal began.

The contrarian’s list of unlikely daily drivers just grew a bit longer.

“We are still finalizing the details of this program and will provide more information on its implementation at the appropriate time,” Volkswagen of America spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan told Bloomberg. VW dealers apparently received EPA approval to resume sales yesterday.

Don’t expect to see lineups outside your local VW dealer. As the stop-sale order came down in mid-September of 2015, only about 12,000 units remain in the automaker’s U.S. inventory. That’s out of a total of about 67,000 model year 2015 vehicles shipped with Generation 3 powerplants.

Impacted by this news are 2015 Beetle, Golf, Golf Sportwagen, Jetta and Passat models, as well as TDI versions of the Audi A3.

Back in January, the EPA and California Air Resources Board both approved a fix for the newest 2.0-liter engines. To lower excess nitrogen oxide emissions, VW would offer a two-part repair. The first, a software update, was made available shortly after the announcement, while a more involved hardware fix is expected by the beginning of next year. The larger fix involves a further software update, as well as “a new diesel particulate filter, diesel oxidation catalyst, and NOx catalyst, all needed to maintain vehicle reliability and emissions performance over time,” the EPA said in January.

Any vehicle sold by VW dealers will have already had the first fix, and will require the second. But will the vehicles be the same high-mileage, high-torque little beats that American buyers fell in love with all those years ago? Reports out of Europe should have would-be buyers worried. (Not to mention owners who opted out of the buyout.)

Across the Atlantic, owners of 1.6 and 2.0-liter VW diesels have reported shuddering, stalls and a reduction in both fuel economy and low-end torque after receiving their prescribed fix. The complaints aren’t just anecdotal, either. Power tests performed by a Swedish magazine reveal newly emissions-compliant 2.0-liter TDI vehicles do suffer from lowered performance. However, the models tested were older TDI vehicles. The EPA has not approved a fix for pre-2015 diesel models in the U.S.

[Image: Volkswagen]