Turbo Charged Petrol Engines

Poulgorm

A lot of cars now have turbo charged petrol engines - e.g. the only petrol engines available for the Golf are all turbo charged.

Most normally aspirated petrol engines will do 200,000 miles if driven anyway decently and service properly. They will not incur massive bills.

Will turbo petrol engines turn out as costly to maintain as diesels have become?

Please don't turn this thread into a diesel v petrol thread. I am toying with the idea of getting a new petrol Golf Plus in 2013 (when the new model comes out). I am wondering if I should steer clear of it and confine my choice to a non-turbo petrol car.

I appreciate that you can get problems with any type of engine: am I increasing the odds of running into costly repairs, if I get a turbo charged petrol engine ?

Anan1

You are, in the sense that a turbocharger is one more thing to go wrong. On the other hand, you can't really compare like with like unless it's turbo and NA versions of the same engine. There are also the efficiency/tax/fuel consumption implications. Are you planning on buying new and keeping the car for 200k miles?

RobAMerc

Saab's used to post intergalactic mileage on turbo engines. Not sure they even post school run mileage on the GM engines though. Not the turbos fault.

ShiresV2

RobAMerc wrote: »

Saab's used to post intergalactic mileage on turbo engines

Likewise the 5 pot blown Volvos.