The Days of the NA Engine are Numbered

[johnb2115]

While at the doctors office today naturally I popped open the latest Motor Trend issue in the waiting area and saw this article:

http://blogs.motortrend.com/1505_downsizing_hits_upswing_smaller_turbo_engines_going_big_kiinote.html

Later, I also found this article on Car and Driver:
http://blog.caranddriver.com/the-grim-future-of-the-naturally-aspirated-engine-or-the-turbos-are-winning/

What are your thoughts on this very real trend in the industry? I personally have some concerns along these lines:

Maintainability
Overall Cost of Ownership
Real World MPG vs MPG ‘On Paper’ (Officially is a move to improve MPG ratings to satisfy legislation)
What are poor people going to drive? (Just in case there are any 1% reading this – most poor people buy and drive used cars starting around the 100K+ range and wouldn’t be able to afford the repair bills on these things)
Towing (New F150 has a turbo V6 – Seriously??). Not saying it can’t tow and tow a lot. But I feel like putting that kind of strain on 6 cylinders instead of 8 is a huge downgrade.

Overall: Increased complexity/Reduced Long Term Durability, and a net negative to society.

I am by no means an expert so maybe I am mistaken on some of the above points. Please discuss.

Topic

[Douglas Haynes]

I don’t think that the N/A engine is going anywhere but I do think that we are going to see more and more turbo engines as time goes on.

It’s combination of the technology finally being able to make to make them just about as reliable as a N/A engine and people finally having forgotten the truly terrible turbo motors of the early 80’s.

Turbos are a great thing when taken care of but consumer memory made the very unpopular for a long long time after the early turbo cars were just giant buckets of fail

[Author]

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