I guess what about having extra pistons makes mpg worse vs. 1.8L, 2.5L, 3.5L, etc.?
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Wow most responses are getting far too deep into this. It’s really as simple as a turbo isn’t always on. Every engine must use fuel in proportion to how much air is pulled into the engine. Less air going into the engine the less fuel is used.
Turbos only push more air if you accelerate hard enough to spool it up so for most people they are only using a fraction of the available power. A turbo engine pushed hard constantly will not be more efficient than an equivalent hp larger displacement engine
Small displacement v6/8/10/12s exist but are designed to be small to allow much higher rpm’s to meet a desired power output. Higher rpm’s means more air and again you are forced to put enough fuel in there basically at all times to not damage the engine. Engines designed to be happy at high rpm’s are basically undrivable at low rpm’s due to a drastic loss of torque.
Example of 3 different cars/4 different engine setups I’ve owned
2.4l NA i4 205hp 7k redline averaged 22-24 mpg
2.0l NA i4 237hp 9k redline averaged like 19 mpg
2.0l SC i4 362whp 9k redline (same engine) 12-15
2.0l TC i4 306hp 7k redline 23-24 mpg driving like a madman but lately I’ve been good and I’m at about 29-30
Superchargers are basically always on so they don’t have the efficiency boost of a turbo
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