Do bolt-on turbos eat up a lot of gas?

[DoriAltis]

One trait of a drifter is being frugal, ah, who am I kidding, we're cheap @$$ people. I'm no exception, so my question is, how bad does a bolt-on turbo lower a car's fuel effiency. I'm talking about a single small turbo. Thanks for the help and happy new year's

[Chas]

Depends on how you drive.

[driftfreak]

if you can keep your foot out of it..you can get ok MPG...

[240sr20]

well our cars already git good mpg, a bolt on turbo can't do to much damage. i feel for the SUVs and V8 sports cars.

[Grounded Boy]

Originally posted by driftfreak
if you can keep your foot out of it..you can get ok MPG...

in other words, if you dont have fun then yes you can keep it low. but i was going to put a turbo on my 240 but decided against it and got headers, just to seal the deal of me not getting a turbo, plus my parents know the sound of a turbo. all of my up-grades have been explained by mpg improvements or saftey, exaust, intake, racing seat/belts/ and wheel. and they bought it, well... mostly. sorry for the rambling.

[eric240]

if you stay under boost, a turbo will raise your mpg.

[240sr20]

whats the point of having a turbo with no boost???

[eric240]

If your light on the throttle, you will stay in the vaccum and not get any boost. like on highway and stuff the MPG is great as long as your not " on it" all the time.

[Feint]

Just find out at what RPM your turbo spools up at and shift below it.Then when you want some boost,downshift into a lower gear.

[PearlWhiteMike]

it will only increase your mpg significantly if you go low compression somehow. if you keep your stock internals/headgasket (not really wise with any bolton turbo kit, at least get low compression headgasket) then your off-boost characteristics should be almost identical to stock