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Auckland Regional Council transport chairman Joel Cayford is promising his middle-aged Volkswagen new spark plugs, despite winning a "green" certificate yesterday from the country's first licensed vehicle emissions workshop.
Dr Cayford said that when he bought the 1996 Volkswagen Polo four months ago he felt confident it would be a relatively clean-burning machine and planned to postpone a tune-up until its warrant expired in June.
"But I didn't think it would be that good after 10 years," he admitted after receiving his certificate at Anzac Automotive in Browns Bay, one of two workshops used yesterday to launch a national network of testing stations under the umbrella of an organisation called Zero Emissions.
But Dr Cayford, a Green Party member, had to make do with a green rather than gold "badge of honour" after failing to reach the latest Euro 4 emissions standard on one of three measures.
A council-owned 2006 hybrid petrol-electric car that brought regional chairman Mike Lee to the launch won a gold certificate with ease, as did compact Toyota models from North Shore City Council's fleet, to the relief of Mayor George Wood.
They scored zero, or close to it, for the amount of excess hydrocarbons seeping from their exhaust pipes - showing most of their fuel was being used for its intended purpose, rather than fouling the atmosphere.
Dr Cayford's hydrocarbon contribution of 126 parts per million was still "very acceptable", said testing equipment supplier Lawrence Fisher, and nothing a new set of sparks plugs could not improve.
That left the Volkswagen owner, who later confessed to the Herald that his varied career included an early stint as a secondhand car salesman for his father, vowing to roll up his sleeves to change the plugs at the first opportunity.
Mr Lee congratulated Zero Emissions chairman Ian Brooks for the organisation's lead in preparing to set up other emissions stations, after a two-year pilot in Browns Bay by Anzac Automotive owner Ash Hames, who has tested 2300 vehicles.
A second station opened yesterday, at the Birchall and Maunder workshop in Rotorua, and Dr Brooks announced plans to open almost 50 more throughout the country by year's end. The 10-minute test costs motorists $33.75.
Mr Lee praised the Government for improving fuel standards but Dr Brooks criticised its decision to back away from mandatory emissions testing.
