Jetta Turbohybrid test drive

"It's the only hybrid engine that has Direct injection."
Lexus IS300h and GS300h have direct injection.

It is a smart move to add turbos. Although it further complicates the drivetrain in a car maker where you want things to be as simple as possible, it allows people to use the power reserves when necessary while still being possible to get good fuel economy when driving very conservatively.

 

Three words:
Premium Fuel Only.

 

Dodge Dart has a 1.4L turbo which has a "suggested" best fuel = Premium. We had the 1st model year 2013 Rallye with the Dual Dry Clutch Transmission = automatic shifting dry 6 speed transmission. It was a real fun car to drive, & I liked it a lot, but we got the lemon of the bunch and lemon law-ed it out after 14 repair shop visits after 15 months of ownership.

What I did learn is what the original post says, Turbos are great for power, but bad for MPG if you are into using the turbo at all. If you live in an area with lots of rolling hills, or like to go faster than driving our Prius in the lower eco -band- mode , you will near always be in the turbo, and hence be getting BAD MPG! Sure the 1.4L engine CAN get 40 MPG but only IF you keep it out of the turbo! Which you simply can not do with anything other than flat ground & a stiff tail wind. Our Dart would routinely get 22-26 average pump calculated MPG with 80% freeway driving! (Due to the hilly coastal area we live in, and always getting into the turbo to go -anywhere). The best the Dart ever got was 39 MPG on a long 4.5 hour freeway drive, with a stiff tail wind, and 39 mpg was its stated EPA highway number. So I look upon all these new "turbo" cars on the road today with a whole lot of skepticism towards their stated MPG's. Sure,, for EPA MPG calculations, it once got the high MPG, but for every day practical real driving, you will get way less! I mean, what is the turbo there for, if you never use it? Might as well just put a standard 1.4L engine in there, then maybe you would get the good stated MPG, at a turtle's pace!

If I drove the Dart with an egg under my gas pedal foot, trying to get good MPG, it would get low 30's MPG average. (But I bought it expecting at least high 30's MPG!) But it was my wife's car, and she said she was "just going to drive it as she always drives", and she would always be in the low 22-24 MPG's average, almost every tank of gas. With her "just driving" our new Prius on the same routes, she is now getting 44-47 mpg averages!!! Prius is much better, she has doubled her usual MPG's even with a bigger 1.8L engine!.

 

The odds are that the engine has knock sensors. So it likely will run regular octane. It will likely cost more per mile than using the premium though.

You are correct, driving hard on a turbo will guzzle gas, and it takes some discipline to get good fuel economy out of it, but it more than the engine. It is also the transmission it is mated too. The base 1.8L in the Sonic has a 5 speed automatic. The 1.4L turbo produces about the same power and torque as the 1.8, but the torque comes up at a much lower rpm. This allows a sixth speed on its transmission that is a second overdrive.

Another factor is weight. I've heard the weight of the Cruze means it is more likely to get into boost for acceleration. that is likely so of the Dart.

As to just getting a plain 1.4L, why not just get a 1.8L atkinson without a hybrid system. That is the main gas saving feature of the Prius, and hybrization isn't required for start/stop or regenerative braking. It won't sell for the same the same reason that the plain 1.4L won't, no one would buy it.