Can We Afford Not To Drive Turbo Charged Cars?

Over recent years you would have noticed the slow evolution of engines in our everyday cars starting to incorporate the use of turbo chargers. There are still manufacturers out there that have not yet embraced this concept yet, such as Toyota, Nissan and Honda. Although they might have a turbo variant somewhere in their lineup, it's not mainstream yet. But is this going to hurt their sales?

As manufacturers like VW, Renault, Peugeot and Ford start their enforcement of turbo charges in their lineup we start to see more and more of these on the road. But there are still the majority of consumers that are wary of turbo charged vehicles, who will tend to stick to what they know. But let's take this and put it into a scenario.

We will compare the new Ford Focus 1.0 Ecoboost against the Toyota Auris 1.6. Both are roughly the same price i.e. around R230k and fall in the same segment.

	Auris	Focus
Engine	1.6	1.0 Turbo
KW	97kw	92kw
Torque	160nm	170nm
Combined Fuel Cons.	6.2l/100km	5l/100km

Now the fuel consumption is manufacturer claimed and varies with environment and driver. A litre of fuel costs around R13.34. The average driver will do +- 25000kms a year.

	Auris	Focus	Difference
Fuel used in a year	1550 litres	1250 litres	300 litres
Cost	R20677.00	R16675.00	R 4002.00
Over 5 years	R103385.00	R83375.00	R 20010.00

As you can see over time the difference in consumption weighs heavily on how much you spend on fuel. Assuming you have a balloon payment on your finance, that saving in fuel cost could well possibly be your final payment. Now, I know that the fuel consumption used to do these calculations are based on manufacturers claimed figures, but I can assure you that in the hilly terrain of coastal KwaZulu-Natal, the normally aspirated Auris will likely do a lot higher than 6.2l/100km.

These small capacity turbo charged engines are achieving impressive results. So, on your next purchase, consider the little turbo engines that are around, you might be surprised as to how much you are actually saving.