Jon V

We're getting ready for a new car for the wife. She drives only 3 mile to work one way and it'll be her car to drive most of the time. My question is whether these short trips are more harmful to a turbocharged engine as opposed to a naturally aspirated engine. Is there anything about the turbo itself that will exceptionally wear on it due to not being run at normal operating temperature for very long. I know this is not good for any engine, but i've never owned a turbocharged car and am concerned about long time reliability.

Gordan T.

Any engine should be properly warmed up before being driven with any degree of vigor. In addition, a turbo engine ought to be allowed to run idle for a little while, especially after a spirited drive, to allow the turbo to cool down and prevent scorching of the oil in the turbo (hot turbo + oil not circulating), which could restrict proper lubrication of the turbo bearings and reduce the part's lifetime.

It's doubtful that your wife will be able to even get the car up to operating temperature in her three-mile jaunt, if she drives the car as gently as it should be driven when cold. I'd think that allowing the car to idle for a minute or so when she gets to her destination would leave her with no more of a reliabilty issue than a normally aspirated engine.

No implied or express warranties, of course. *grin*

Gordan

ErikR

Be sure and use a lightwt synthetic (5w30 is what Audi advises) anyways. Change the oil at 3k just to get the water out.

Chris D

Almost all of the wear an engine experiences in its lifetime occurs during starting and in the period before the engine reaches normal operating temperature. Unless the 3 mile commute is hard core bumper to bumper, it will spend its entire life in this high wear condition. This is really bad for any engine's internal parts - I wouldn't expect to get 100K miles out of ANY engine with a life like that - turbo or otherwise. Letting the car sit and idle until it warms up isn't a good way to treat an engine either. The least you can do is let the car stretch its legs on the weekends.
Maybe a car that has a huge drivetrain warranty (doesn't the Passat have a 100K ?) would be a better choice as replacing or rebuilding either of the A4's engines would be prohibitively expensive. Or maybe a lease would make more sense - you would certainly not have any problems with exceeding the mileage allowances. God help whoever buys that car when it comes off of lease, though. They'll think they're getting a great car because the mileage is so low, but it probably won't have long to live.

RickM

I've been driving a Saab 900 2 miles to a commuter train station 5 mornings a week, and 2 miles back at night, for over SEVEN YEARS. It had 90,000+/- miles on it when I started using it this way, and now 7 years later it has 111,000. We're talking low mileage here. I live in the northeast, where winters get cold. It still runs great. I change the oil every six months regardless of use. I keep it waxed. And I take it out on the highway on weekends to let it "breath". Engine wear? Sure, maybe there's engine wear from all those short runs. But when you're averaging 3,000 miles a year, how long do you suppose it's gonna take to see it???? Answer: WHO CARES. I'll probably be dead of old age before the effects, if any, become evident at the rate I've been going with this car. And I'm not alone; just about everyone who commutes the way I do in my town (from the burbs, into NYC by train) does the same thing to their car. And I'll venture to guess that there are plenty of people on this list with very short commutes too. There's a guy I commute with who already wants to buy my car when I'm ready to sell it, because he wants a "new" station car ( he's been using his car this way for 12 years). And y'know, I do think I'm gonna sell it, because I got my A4 this past summer and I hate leaving it garaged 5 days a week. And once I do sell the Saab, I'll be using the A4 for the train station, 5 days a week. Will premature engine wear become evident at 50,000+ miles due to all those short trips? Maybe. But according to historical mileage experience, that means I have nothing to worry about until the year 2015 or so. I think I can handle the anxiety! LOL.

Rick