Car shows, especially European car shows, come really close to looking like fashion week in Milan. Some of the things that roll into these shows make you think, "That designer did a whole sheet of blotter at some point in his past." And then you see the latest trends those designers are betting with catch on and change Things As We Know Them.
The Geneva Motor Show that closes Friday is no exception. There was the staid and the frivolous, the production-ready and the stuff that will never, ever see a showroom. Through it all, one of the big trends was turbochargers.
You're gonna be seeing more of them before long.
Twenty-six cars made their debut at the show sporting turbochargers produced by Honeywell Turbo Technologies, one of the world's largest producers of the technology. They ranged from the uber-efficient Volkswagen Polo Blue Motion to the super-luxe Rolls Royce EX200 concept and Volvo's entire line of eco-friendlier Drive turbodiesels.
Turbos were all the rage in the early 1980s, mainly due to high fuel costs, which led to reduced engine output, which led to consumers bitching about anemic performance. Turbos are a great way to provide a measure of fuel efficiency without sacrificing power because you can use a smaller engine. Use exhaust gasses to drive a compressor to cram more air into the appropriate half of the fuel-to-air equation, et voila’, you've got power and economy.
How much power and economy? Jaguar slapped Honeywell's latest turbocharger in the 3.0-liter V6 beneath the bonnet of the new XF and saw torque rise to a most impressive 442.5 foot-pounds. Fuel consumption dropped 12 percent and CO2 emissions fell 10 percent over the previous-generation XF (pictured) while providing performance comparable to a V8. Not bad.
So we find ourselves in 2009 with the need to automotively combat higher fuel costs, reduce emissions, use less gas and still have cars that can get out of their own way, so turbos are back in style. Honeywell expects the turbocharger segment to grow from 30 percent of the automotive market to 38 percent within four years.
Naysayers will point out that turbos increase the complexity of an engine, which increases weight while reducing reliability. But it's worth noting that during the freewheeling turbo days of the 1980s, Grand Prix teams were getting 1,500 horsepower out of 1.5-liter turbocharged engines. There's nothing to prevent applying that same knowledge to street cars.
Photo: Jaguar
