• grue@lemmy.worldM
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    2 hours ago

    If you bought the car because this fulfilled your needs, are you now being robbed because there theoretically is more horsepower available?

    Your premise is flawed. The horsepower didn’t become available now; it was always available from the beginning – the physical machine didn’t magically change. That means even the most charitable interpretation is that VW deliberately made the thing artificially worse when they sold it to you.

    Are car motors not always limited to specific power outputs to reach emission, efficiency, or safety targets?

    Sure, but the bottom line is that either a tune falls within those targets or it doesn’t, and a tune provided by the manufacturer always will (because they have to conform to emissions laws, honor warranties, etc.). Since the higher-performance tune is safe, using the lower tune is just leaving performance on the table for no reason.

    It is not like a tune done by the owner or third-party that could exceed those limits at the owner’s risk.

    • Dynamo@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      Thank you for the explanation regarding tune.

      Let me preface my response with this: I do not particularly agree with VWs practices here. It seems to be a way to make more money by offering a „service“ instead of having only a one-time purchase. So please don’t understand me as defending VW here.

      What I wanted to say with my premise is that the car that was bought is still the same car with the same lower horsepower that was advertised then. The car did not change and can be used in exactly the same way as when it was originally bought. Nothing was lost and no harm to the customer.

      If you do not want to support these practices (which I would definitely not!) and you own this car, you can simply chose to not pay them money and continue to use the car under the specs you had originally purchased it.