Originally Posted by HyundaiAbuser
For those of you who have bought cars that have turbos from factory, how do you like them in comparison to previous generations? Do the turbos give you any troubles and how does it affect your driving experience?
I had a 2016 Subaru WRX 6MT with a turbo. Kept it for 3 years and 40,000+ miles.
These days, I drive my fiancee's Honda Civic 1.5T with 6MT a lot.
I am a fan of turbocharged engines. They let you "have your cake and eat it too", so to speak. You get the performance of a larger-displacement naturally-aspirated engine (actually, in some areas, better, such as with low-end and midrange torque), but without the greater fuel consumption, as long as you keep your foot out of it (which is, admittedly, tough for me to do).
Take the Civic 1.5T engine, for example. It makes 174 HP and 162 LB/FT torque, which are similar numbers to the 3.0L OHC V6 in my old 1987 Nissan Maxima (actually, the Maxima had more like 160 HP, with around 180 LB/FT). But the real story is in how soon the torque peak is reached, thanks to the turbo. Modern turbos allow peak torque to be reached not far off idle; 1700 RPM in the case of the Civic. And it maintains that twist all the way up to 5500 RPM. You'd have to rev an NA engine a lot more to get your peak torque.
And modern turbos (especially the small ones, like what's in the WRX and Civic) spool up quickly. There's almost none of the lag you used to hear about with older turbocharged cars.
Another benefit is that you lose less power with a forced-induction car when you drive at elevation, than you would with a NA car.
Durability is not really an issue. The designs have been improved, with most turbos nowadays being water-cooled. It used to be that people would add aftermarket "turbo timers" to their cars. It was a device that kept your engine running for a predetermined amount of time, after you took the key out. That allowed oil to continue to flow through the turbo, cooling it, and preventing residual oil from cooking inside the hot turbo (known as "coking"), especially after long periods of time driving at higher speeds. These days, it's not really necessary, as the turbos run cooler due to liquid cooling. Some designs also allow for coolant to continue flowing through the turbo for a time, after engine shutdown. Also, oils, especially synthetic oils, have gotten much better over the years, and are much less volatile and less susceptible to causing the coking.
If you do get a turbocharged car, I highly recommend using a very good quality, fully-synthetic oil, and not going too long between changes.
