Why does the Jaguar I want to buy not meet Euro 6 standards but its Audi rival does?
Your motoring problems solved
Q. I thought all new diesel cars had to have emissions low enough to meet the Euro 6 standard, but a Jaguar I was thinking of buying does not. Why is this, when my Audi A6 is already Euro 6-compliant?
PJ, Wendover, Buckinghamshire
A. Cars sold in the European Union must comply with exhaust pollution limits, which over the years since 1993 have been referred to as Euro 1, Euro 2 and so on, up to the current Euro 6, the permissible emissions levels reducing as the number increases. For example, the limit on oxides of nitrogen (NOx) has been slashed from 180milligrams per kilometre under Euro 5 to just 80mg/km for Euro 6.
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For manufacturers of diesel cars the reduction is not always easily achieved, particularly as the more efficient you make a diesel engine (and rising efficiency is yet another ongoing EU requirement), the more NOx it produces.
However, from last September every new model granted EU-type approval has had to meet the Euro 6 limits, and from September 1 this year all new cars on sale must comply with the Euro 6 requirements.
Some manufacturers, such as Audi, have made their new models Euro 6-compliant ahead of the official deadline, and most others are in the process of doing so. The Jaguar F-type meets Euro 6, as will the XE model, to be launched in the spring.
The company’s remaining models will be either phased out or upgraded to Euro 6 by September 1, and any upgrade is likely to be done in combination with a facelift of the model concerned.
TIM’LL FIX IT
Tim Shallcross used to train AA patrols to fix cars. Now he advises the Institute of Advanced Motoring – read more from Tim here.
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