General question about turbos...

Hoof_Hearted

It seems that turbos often seem to fail before the end of the life of the car and engine and that repairs are very expensive. I notice that some small cars are being fitted with turbos (e.g. Micra). In general, if you just needed an A to B everyday car, would you avoid anything with a turbo/ Are they more trouble than the performance benefits they bring?

Retrogamer

There's a drive within the motoring industry here to get better mpg, lower emissions and usually more power. With all the safety features and luxuries such as central locking, power steering ect small hatchbacks these days aren't as light as they used to be. They need more powerful engines but also need to be good with fuel and turbocharger is one of the more efficient ways to solve it.
Naturally aspirated diesel engines aren't that great to drive at all. Flat and gutless and not much better on fuel.

On my turbo diesel the car had done 184k before it was wrote off and the original turbo was still fine. Most newer cars have higher boost pressures operating on the turbo so more load, and less frequent services so it's no surprise they die quicker.

Ultrasonic

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

In general, if you just needed an A to B everyday car, would you avoid anything with a turbo.

If someone is looking for cheap, no frills motoring, then to my mind the answer to that question has to be yes.

Unless you're talking about buying a new car and selling it before the end of the warranty period, in which case it is a non-issue. But then that isn't cheap motoring.

As to whether a turbo is worth the hassle from a performance perspective isn't really something someone else can answer for you. I drive a turbo diesel which gives me a combination of economy and performance that I'm happy with.

Interesting question though, I'll be interesting in other people's answers.

motorguy

Hoof_Hearted wrote: »

It seems that turbos often seem to fail before the end of the life of the car and engine and that repairs are very expensive. I notice that some small cars are being fitted with turbos (e.g. Micra). In general, if you just needed an A to B everyday car, would you avoid anything with a turbo/ Are they more trouble than the performance benefits they bring?

Most turbo problems happen on turbo diesel cars. Its usually because of a problem 'further down the line' putting extra stress on the turbo - blocked DPF, blocked CAT, EGR valve problems, etc, etc. Lack of the right care doesnt help either - servicing skimped on, other EML related problems not addressed, etc, etc.

There are some that are particularly notorious - the 1.6 PSA engine fitted to Fords, volvos, peugeot, citroen, etc is a bit of a pig. The 1.5 DCI renault engine, the 1.9 CDTI vauxhall engine too.
But yes, i'm incredibly wary of turbo'd cars. Unless you're doing mega miles a petrol car usually makes more sense.

forgotmyname

I wouldnt avoid a car with a turbo, But i would and i do change the oil a lot more often than the manufacturers max limits.

And use a good quality fully synthetic oil. No skimping on this.

AND something that appears to be a forgotten art these days. Actually check the oil weekly..

Weird_Nev

The drive towards turbos is primarily being driven by the CO2 tax banding. Car makers now have to shoe-horn cars into lower and lower tax bands reducing fuel consumption (IN THE EC TESTS!) whilst retaining performance. The Turbo is a great engineering solution to this.

It is an added layer of complexity in a car, but modern turbo cars are built to exactly the same engineering specification as any other car: They have to pass all the same durability and even "abusive" use cycles before the manufacturers will sell them.

I have a friend who has developed the Ford 1.0 Ecoboost engine - currently winning awards left right and centre. He says it is just as reliable as any other engine, and should be fault free past 150,000 miles in normal use. There are also reductions in complexity coming with these engines: The clever manifold and head design uses fewer parts, the flywheels is unbalanced to remove the need for a balance shaft on this 3 cyl engine, and the timing belt is internal and oil bathed to help it last "forever". FOrd will be building over 1 million of these engines a YEAR, they won't want half of them coming back!

I've owned 3 turbocharged cars, none have ever given me any problems despite a couple of them being high milage. Thinkgs like wastegate actuator failure, intercoolers splitting, turbo flange gaskets failing, can all be problems though, so it pays to be informed re the model you're buying.

I would caution against buying a turbo car without evidence of regular servicing, because it is essential that the turbo bearings have a clean high quality oil, and I'd also caution against "tuned" examples. It's easy to turn up the boost and get more power out of a turbo, but who knows what will go 'pop' and when? Bad tuning, in particular bad mapping, kills either cars or fuel economy.

Turbos go with diesel likehand and glove. It's actually pretty hard to buy a Diesel WITHOUT it being turbo nowadays. I'd be very vary of turbo diesels because of all manner of injector problems, dmf failures, DFP's, swirf flaps, - the list goes on and no marque is without it's trouble spots. Unless I was doing something like 20k miles a yea, I'm not sure I'd want a modern turbo diesel car out of warranty.

OddballJamie

Weird Nev, ask your mate why the mpg figures are so low for such an economical engine.

DKLS

No qualms about buying a turbo'd car as long as the previous owner has shown a bit of mechanical sympathy and its been well serviced.

Its diesels I wouldn't touch unless I had to do over 20k a year.

My last 5 cars have had turbos, the last one had twin turbos which was great to drive

cootuk

What about these 3 cylinder 0.9l turbo petrols engines like from Renault?

Stooby2

A top tip with a turbo engine is to start it and let it tick over for about 30 seconds before driving off to let oil get flowing through it. Similarly, don't screech to a halt and turn the engine off - let the revs settle down to a tickover for a few seconds so the turbo has time to spin down with oil flowing.

I can't remember what 4x4 it was, but there was one that kept the engine running for about 30 seconds after the ignition was switched off for exactly this reason. You could lock the doors and walk away with engine running.

OddballJamie

Stooby2, I remember the same thing with turbo timers when my mates had cars like RS turbos and Imprezas.