BMW 335d and X5d Pass CARB (sort of)

Ben Dec 7th, 2008 Link

I live in California and wish the state would chill out about these emissions. It is what it is.

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Mike M Dec 18th, 2008 Link

Two comments: First, in response to the previous comment, the problem is not emissions – a close reading of the certification shows they are amazing. E.g., the 335d emits no measurable NOx emissions at highway speeds. The conditional certification is because of faults in the onboard diagnostics, faults which aren’t detailed. One wonders what they were, but they couldn’t have amounted to much, since only four of seven incurred a penalty, and they was only $100 per vehicle for all of them.

My second comment is about the 335d itself. BMW is still pushing it – it’s the first model one sees on their website. But if you go through the Build Your Own process, the European Delivery option is no longer listed under Summary. It was there earlier, but now it’s gone. I suspect it means they aren’t even taking orders for the vehicles at this point, probably to see whether they can cure these problems before importing them. The fall in gas prices but the failure of diesel to fall to similar levels may also be a factor. In any case, readers of this forum may not have seen it, but after much fanfare, Honda has cancelled plans to import its diesel Acura because it couldn’t meet emissions tests when equipped with an automatic transmission. One hopes the same fate won’t befall the 335d!

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Michael Dec 18th, 2008 Link

Mike M.:

Thanks for your great comment!

As far as the issues with CARB, BMW is not worried about them at this time and actually said it is a simple fix (has to do with the lock down procedure or something to that when the DEF runs out). They are taking orders for the car and have no intention of pulling it. It is not on the ED list at this time because there is limited allotment of the model and the ED allotment may already be spoken for. I will look further into this!

As for the diesel prices those I have spoken with are not worried about the price discrepancy as diesel historically has been lower than gas, the past administration had an effect on things as well…. those in the industry see times changing and a push for higher efficiency is going to be a requirement, diesel is a stop gap first step and will help the fleet numbers even with modest sales. The Japanese are having issues with meeting emissions because they can not use (or will not pay to ) certain technologies that the Germans have co-developed with suppliers.

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