Monolith2001
Registered Member
Interesting that Consumer Reports is now stating that turbo engines don't really get better gas mileage in real world use than NA power plants with equivalent HP and have higher maintenance and repair costs.
Of course, that's just Consumer Reports opinion based on surveys of actual users not a genuine Internet Meme.
It's just physics. It takes x amount of energy to move y mass. If it takes 50 hp of energy to move a car down the road, it will take the same energy (fuel) whether forced-inducted or normally aspirated. Where the savings comes is when modest amounts of power are required and at idle where a smaller turbo engine will use less fuel than a larger NA engine.
There are situations where a turbo engine will get worse gas mileage simply because they tend to generate more power/torque at a lower rpm and people are more likely to use that power as opposed to revving into the NA motor's higher rpm power band.