If you put that question into Google, you get an answer saying turbo engines have better mpg, but I remember reading that, during the development of Ford’s 7.3L gasoline engine, they came up with some kind of formula that calculated the most fuel efficient engine for a medium duty vehicle was the N/A 7.3 they ended up with. I’ve also heard it from some of my engineer friends. So what is it?

  • kuddlesworth9419BEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Not really. If you match up cars with similar power figures and compare their fuel consumption it’s normally about even. You can’t make more power from nothing. A 400 hp V8 vs a 400 hp turbo 4 cylinder will do about 20 mpg in the real world. The gearing will make a difference and the driving style obviously so you need to also match the power output when cruising for example. It’s where the theory and the real world don’t really align. Everything has gone towards fewer cylinder counts these days but when you compare the fuel economy and the power output there isn’t much change. There are outliers though.

  • humdizzleBEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    there are tons of factors that effect mpg. but all things being equal a smaller displacement turbo will be more fuel efficient than the larger engine NA motor, and make more power. you can see this in the current civics… the 1.5t in the Si gets better mpg than the 2.0 in the sport. once you start driving aggressively though the 1.5t is going to making more power by sucking up more air and using more fuel. also, initial response from the engine is going to be slower with a turbo, it takes time to spool up a turbo, which makes it tricky in the corners compared to NA