Welcome to the North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club Tuesday March 19, 2024
Home Forums Images WikiNASIOC Products Store Modifications Upgrade Garage
NASIOC
Go Back   NASIOC > NASIOC General > News & Rumors > Non-Subaru News & Rumors

Welcome to NASIOC - The world's largest online community for Subaru enthusiasts!
Welcome to the NASIOC.com Subaru forum.

You are currently viewing our forum as a guest, which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our community, free of charge, you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is free, fast and simple, so please join our community today!

If you have any problems with the registration process or your account login, please contact us.







* As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. 
* Registered users of the site do not see these ads. 
 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Prev Previous Post   Next Post Next
Old 11-04-2012, 05:38 AM   #1
AVANTI R5
Scooby Guru
 
Member#: 73805
Join Date: Nov 2004
Default Turbocharged Cars Don’t Live Up to Fuel-Economy Hype Says Consumer Reports




Quote:
Vehicle quality was not the only thing making news when Consumer Reports unveiled the results of its latest reliability study in Detroit earlier this week. Amongst the issues highlighted by the consumer publication were real world fuel economy and forced induction engine technology.

In particular, the watchdog organization took issue with downsized, turbocharged engines, citing efficiency and reliability issues with certain engines during real-world testing.

Currently, automakers are in a race to the bottom, slashing engine displacement and bolting on boost to help meet ever-stricter fuel-economy standards. Brands like Hyundai and Ford are seen to be leading the charge with turbocharged powerplants in mainstream products like the Sonata and Fusion.

“Engine downsizing is the biggest driver for turbocharging, along with direct fuel injection,” said Tom Grissom, Director of Business Development for BorgWarner Turbo Systems. He said they’re essential to giving smaller engines the performance characteristics drivers need.



BorgWarner sees big growth potential for turbos in North America. Grissom said, “the U.S. is fundamentally a gasoline-fueled passenger car market.” As automakers downsize engines they will have to turn to turbos. Europe’s vehicle fleet is already predominantly diesel powered, which means turbochargers are already on most engines there.

Bosch Mahle Turbo Systems, another major supplier of turbochargers to car manufacturers, projects that by 2019, 45 million turbochargers will be used in passenger vehicles annually.
LAB RESULTS, NOT THE REAL WORLD

Part of the discrepancy noted by Consumer Reports and documented anecdotally in AutoGuide reviews may come from the fact that so called “window sticker” fuel-economy numbers provided by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are achieved through tests done in a lab, rather than on the street.

In the EPA test cycle vehicles are strapped to a chassis dynamometer, their drive wheels positioned on a series of rollers. The energy it takes to spin these rollers can be adjusted to simulate extra vehicle weight or wind resistance.

Once a vehicle is securely mounted on the dyno, a professional driver takes it through a series of simulated routes, accelerating and braking according to the standardized test schedule. Fuel economy ratings are determined by measuring the amount of carbon exhausted out the tailpipe. Obviously this methodology doesn’t work with electric vehicles.

Since 2008 the test has been amended to include additional variables, things like higher driving speeds, cold temperatures and air conditioning usage. These tweaks help the EPA test more accurately reflect real-world performance.

When contacted to see if new changes should be incorporated to close the gap between as-tested fuel economy and real world fuel economy on turbocharged cars, the EPA did not immediately respond. But given Hyundai and Kia’s recent trouble in this area, things may change in the future.

On paper the downsized-turbocharged formula really works to improve fuel economy. New-vehicle shoppers see bigger numbers on window stickers, but this is not something the folks at Consumer Reports found in their testing.

CHEVY CRUZE, FORD F-150 SINGLED OUT

Two examples cited are the Chevrolet Cruze compact car and the Ford F-150 pickup, both of which offer optional force-fed engines. Jake Fisher, the Director of Auto Testing at Consumer Reports said that even with downsized, turbocharged engines “[they deliver the] same fuel efficiency as their normally aspirated counterparts.” This calls into question the fuel-economy improvements automakers have made the last few years.


“EcoBoost had virtually the same zero to 60 time and 15 miles per gallon as the V8,” Fisher said of the F-150. This is not exactly a ringing endorsement of blowers and direct injection, given their added cost and complexity.

These engines have also proven to have reliability issues. According to Fisher, when it first came out, “the Mazda CX-7 turbo had a lot of problems… but they ended up working them out.” Also, “in previous years the WRX and other turbocharged Subarus were below average in reliability.”

Even premium brands have had some trouble in this area. Fisher said, “there were some early problems with BMW’s 3.0-liter turbo engine.”
Under-hood troubles can impact quality scores, but there are other factors to consider. Turbocharged powerplants are often found in higher-trim models. Typically these vehicles are delivered with extra options, which means there are more things to go wrong.

EPA standards are the law of the land so automakers follow them to the letter. As for the Chevy Cruze’s performance in Consumer Reports’ testing, Tom Read of GM Technology and Powertrain Communications said “based on their drive schedule they may have come up with something different from the EPA numbers.”

“The EPA numbers we report on are clearly better with the 1.4 turbo – 26/42 [miles per gallon] with the eco model versus 26/38 with the 1.8,” Read said.


Richard Truett, Powertrain Communications Manager at Ford echoed these sentiments. He said “a lot of it depends on how consumers use it” and “we’re discovering that people really enjoy the turbos.” In other words, buyers like the rush of acceleration they offer.

According to Truett, the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 offered in the F-150 can deliver superior fuel economy to the company’s the 5.0-liter V8 engine “if you use the turbos smartly.” He also said you can’t have your cake and eat it too; you have to keep a light foot on the throttle to maximize efficiency.
Lower-than-expected real-world MPG numbers don’t appear to be dissuading buyers from opting for boosted pickups. Truett said as of last month “EcoBoost alone is about 42 percent of F-150 sales,” adding “it’s exceeded all expectations of sales and performance.”

Summing things up, Read offered some advice, “no drive schedule can be perfect to simulate what a customer is going to get, but [EPA scores are] better than ever as an indicator of what a customer is going to get.” As always, you mileage will vary.
http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...r-reports.html
AVANTI R5 is offline   Reply With Quote
 

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

All times are GMT -4. The time now is 12:45 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.7.0
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Copyright ©1999 - 2019, North American Subaru Impreza Owners Club, Inc.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission
Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.