Team-BHP - Turbo-petrol owners of Team-BHP | Are you happy with your purchase?

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Originally Posted by bblost (Post 5750715)

But the biggest surprise is the very good mileage on my usual routes. It does get very low if stuck in traffic for a long period of time. But I have very good roads with hardly any traffic on my day to day commute and easily get about 14kmpl.

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Originally Posted by greyhound82 (Post 5750895)

On my recent journey from Delhi to Trivandrum, I achieved an average fuel efficiency of 21.8 kilometers per liter on the MID(combining normal and eco driving modes) while maintaining an average speed of 85 kilometers per hour over a distance of 250 kilometers.

Exactly, if driven well, turbo petrols can manage very good FE numbers. For instance as I have shared above my Sonet turbo petrol manages very good FE in Pune city conditions (with moderate conditions), sometimes even breaching 18 KMPL mark. With a cruise control at 85, Sonet touches 19-20 Kmpl on expressways.

My Seltos Turbo 1.5 DCT too gives similar numbers on highways whereas manages a good 13-14 Kmpl in similar conditions as Sonet.

I have had the pleasure of driving both 2.0TDI in Passat and 2.0TSI in Jaguar. Both with turbos.

Turbo diesels have an old school torquey charm and Passat used to manage 25kmpl with 168 horses.
Quite contrary to that, Jag has a much more on-the-tap kind of power available and it likes to rev till 6.8k easy.
I was quite pleasantly surprised seeing it almost touch 16kmpl with 247 horses!

Those must be some frugal horses!

Given a choice, I’ll choose turbo diesel over turbo petrols provided both of them are in a reasonably comparable hp range (for example, GLE 450d vs 450) for the sheer performance + FE nature of diesels.

Interesting thread.

My Skoda Rapid 1.0 TSI was purchased following GTO's review. When you drive this gorgeous engine, you can't help but grin ear to ear. Even though I made the huge mistake of purchasing a manual rather than the torque converter, it does somewhat improve fuel economy.

Pros:
1. Love the driving dynamics of the rapid, great fun to spool the turbo. The way the nose lifts up while accelerating is :loveit
2. Mileage: In Bengaluru, where I reside, the turbo rarely engages within the city limits. Combined average is 14-15 kmph for both city and highway. I drive with a heavy foot on the highway and city driving is sedate and this mileage is an average of that. In fact its averaged >20 kmph on one of my drives to Kanyakumari as well.

Cons:
1. Hate the Skoda ASC with all my heart
2. Slightly cramped for my body type.
3. Due to the 15 inch alloys in ambition variant, it scrapes every single road bump in Bengaluru.

Would I purchase a petrol turbo again? Of course I would. After three years with the Rapid, I find it impossible to imagine what I would buy next*because it satisfies all of my needs. The way my car feels, there are moments when I wish I could just keep it forever.

Driving a NA and turbo sedan, I can very well say, my next car will be a Turbo Petrol. It is such a lovely kick the turbo gives on daily drives, maybe that explains your cons about low Fuel Efficiency. The urge to push the turbo engine harder is much more enticing compared to NA in my opinion. Of course, I am talking about regular engines. When it comes to exotics like Purosangue, or Porsche's Flat 6, yeah we all love those but largely beyond reach. So from practicality with useful power point of view, it is Turbo Petrols for me.

We replaced a 1.5 City Petrol NA with a Seltos GTX+ DCT with the 1.4 T-GDi. I think overall the engine is good, but it's the 7 speed DCT that lets it down. The engine already does have turbo lag and the shoddily tuned low end of the gears lets it down even more. Moreover, I find the engine note to be very eerie as compared to the City it replaced.

But, I did drive a Kushaq 1.5 Turbo AT extensively and that was quite an experience. Fantastic gearbox and linear acceleration made it a breeze.

I love Turbo petrols! Lots of fun to drive. I have the same engine as you, the 1L TSI, but in a Polo.
Regarding some of your points, I do agree to an extent.

1) F/E is a bit on the low side in city, but recently on a highway trip it was surprisingly great!

2) The turbo lag at low speeds is very annoying, but I think I have found a solution to this. In slow traffic, I drive in Sport on the gearbox. There is minimal turbo lag and the fuel economy remains unchanged at low speeds.

3) Maintenance costs have been fine for me. My Creta costs far more at every service than the Polo.
Moving from these to NA petrol will be very difficult for you. The Electrics are not there yet as far as I am concerned especially if you plan to have it as your primary car. Hybrids are expensive and boring to drive but F/E is good. I will keep at least 1 car in the garage that has a turbo petrol.

Having owned the same car and spec as OP since the past 3.5 years I can definitely agree to many of his points.

Here are my few observations:
1. The city FE hovers around the 7-10 kmpl mark.

2. This engine can be quite efficient out on the highways, my daily commute is close to 100 kms to and fro and the 1.0 TSI AT delivers around 18-20 kmpl with AC.

3. The engine is not the most refined units and that's something we expect from a 3 cylinder but one doesn't need to rev the nuts out of the as the torque delivery is SUPERB and the car feels very RAPID.��

4. Light flex on the accelerator is enough to pick up lost momentum out on the highways

5. It isn't the best city car but as a highway car it surely excels as the stability, suspension tuning at highway speeds and the engine are better than it's competitors.

6. The FE and NVH improve with the use of 95 RON petrol.
Overall I'm quite satisfied with my Lightning ( yep that's what I call her).

Also Germans are meant to be driven as smiles to the gallon and not miles per gallon ��
Cheers, RS

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Conclusion - My next purchase is NOT going to be a turbo-petrol. I will consider EVs, hybrids or as a simple NA petrol + AT only. So my question to all members of Team bhp will you buy a turbo petrol as a next car?

Well not all turbocharged engines have the same issues, but regarding your experiences, having a next turbo-petrol isn't a bad idea, especially when companies tend to make improvements during a facelift or new model. Probably you may have to go for another brand, but if you choose current Skoda or Volkswagen sedans, they're way safer cars when compared to Maruti Suzuki. If a Hybrid is what you can consider, the Honda City is a good bet on that as well, but switching from a turbo to NA is difficult especially when you get thrilling performance. If you are planning for something high end, like a BMW, Audi or Merc, they also have turbocharged engines, which has help cut emissions and improve power output. And Audi shares parts with VW and Skoda, which means that your TSi engine, though a smaller one, has the same characteristics as an Audi. However, the NVH issue can be due to 3-cylinders instead of 4.

As for your experiences regarding turbo-petrol engines, one thing I have noticed is that sometimes, fuel quality makes a difference, as well as driving style. I have a 2019 BMW 3 series which has a 2L twin-turbo, tuned for high octane fuel, which not only gives great power, but also fuel economy is good too - on my highway trips and considering my driving style, I have got 40 miles a gallon, roughly 17 km/L in eco-pro mode. Although your Skoda is tuned for lower octane, you may want to experiment on a high-octane fuel, and see how it goes.

Voted a big 'YES'
Having owned the Polo GT TSI (1.0 with TC gearbox) for last 3 years, few of my observations are as below:
1. While there is a bit of turbo lag owing to the 3 cylinder character, it is actually much lesser when you compare it to the manual version. VAG has done their best to address it for the TC
2. It is certainly not the greatest of city engines (for heavy stop-and-go traffic and parking) - it is a guzzler - my biggest pain point is actually the 'creep' which is annoying during cold start and also during parking. I still drive my Honda Jazz 1.2 NA (done ~1.15L kms); in worst traffic also I still get 13-14 kmpl :cool: but with Polo it is 7-8 kmpl sometimes :coldsweat
3. The NVH again is typical 3 cylinder character - one needs to live with it
4. This engine truly shines in mild traffic roads/ highways, ghat sections. Take it more for long drives. The mid range is relentless
--> To address some of the short-comings as mentioned above I did a Stage 1 remap with Tune-o-tronics which included the revised air channel guide (Euro spec) + ITG air filter along with the remap. The difference is quite amazing and I strongly suggest this upgrade for this engine. It gives the 1.5 TSI a run for its money :cool:

I still own my Laura (1.8 TSI MT) with a stage 2 tune; being a 4 cylinder it is nice it drive in city and pulls like a freight train on highways.

--> The biggest advantage you have with these new age turbo petrols and specifically the VAG ones is the tuning potential.

I have a 1.0 tsi AT on Virtus - I think its the same engine with a slightly different tune. FE is atrocious agreed, but the drive itself is so exciting its impossible for me to drive it sedately, so I am okay with the FE I get. I havent really faced much of a turbo lag - yes sometimes if I am low speeds and then want instant accelaration, there is that odd occasion, where the vehicle hesitates for a second but I think that pause is okay with me since it also gives me a second to control my urge to just fly away (It feels more like the car is asking - Are you sure you want to do it?). I dont experience turbo lag when I am already running at a decent clip (20/30 kmph) and want to run away from the pack. From a standstill (like a toll plaza or a signal) I can mostly outrun a lot of other common vehicles I see around me. Its exilarating for the most part - and for that I have come to terms with a lower FE. Would I love a mileage of 20? Of course! But would I rather give up the turbo for that - no!