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This is a misleading article, except for pointing out that Ford and GM don't understand how to make good turbocharged engines, and that Consumer Reports doesn't understand turbocharging.
Turbos excel at getting plenty of power out of an engine and helping deliver good fuel economy. Because of the way a turbocharger works though, pure acceleration --such as 0 to 60-- is not the best metric of performance. However, good turbocharged engines perform more like a V6 or V8 at midrange speeds, such as 30 to 50 or 50 to 70, speeds and actions that are much more important in every day use. The first time you can effortlessly accelerate up a 10% grade at 75 mph or pass someone quickly on a narrow windy road you realize where the turbo advantage lies. In 1995 a 4-cylinder Saab 9000 Aero was found to accelerate faster from 50 to 70 than a Ferrari Testarossa.
Sitting in my driveway are four, 4-cylinder, turbocharged Saabs ranging in age from 1996 to 2003 with an average of 170,500 miles on them. All get 28-32 miles per gallon on the highway at 70+ mph. One of them, a 2000 9-3 SE with 197K miles on it, just averaged 29.5 miles per gallon on a trip from Georgia to New Hampshire, running 70-75 most of the way. Another of the fleet, a 1996 9000, averaged 28.4 mpg on a 2500 mile trip from New England to New Mexico, running 75-80 most of the way, including crossing the Continental Divide at 10,500 ft in Colorado.
Is there an added maintenance cost? Yes. I use high quality synthetic oil and change it every 5,000 miles. I change my own oil so for each car this costs maybe an extra $60 a year--$5 a month per car. Pretty trivial.
, Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:13:01
, Sun, 17 Feb 2013 06:46:47
, Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:51:05, Mon, 18 Feb 2013 12:56:21, Mon, 18 Feb 2013 15:09:06, Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:13:49, Tue, 19 Feb 2013 01:32:17, Tue, 19 Feb 2013 07:24:59
, Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:20:53, Tue, 19 Feb 2013 08:48:58, Tue, 19 Feb 2013 11:53:24, Tue, 19 Feb 2013 12:38:50
, Tue, 19 Feb 2013 06:08:03, Mon, 18 Feb 2013 10:58:59, Sun, 17 Feb 2013 18:25:33, Sun, 17 Feb 2013 05:39:10, Mon, 18 Feb 2013 14:21:23, Sun, 17 Feb 2013 06:51:27
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