Has anyone experienced loss of power when driving in very hot weather( 100oF +) for a sustained period of time?
Someone mentioned to me that Turbo engines tend to get really hot in these kind of temperatures and power is reduced.

 

no

 

Have not driven in 100 degree F weather. But I think engines using some kind of thermodynamic cycle have to work harder in 'hot and high' ambient air. So if you plan to drive in Arizona during the summer at some high elevation place, you might not get the same performance. Nothing to do with the car, just the physics of air.

 

Definitley will lose power. It is more pronounced with a turbo--hot air is harder to compress so the turbo is less efficient. So you get less oxygen molecules and less boost.

On the plus side, when it is cooler you gain more. Just a wider swing with a turbo. Also on the plus side: turbo engines tend to be less altitude sensitive.

 

Like a fool one time I followed a friend in her Suburban up a mountain in Palm Springs "it's much shorter this way..." in 120 degrees. My 2.5 L G1 Legend, fully loaded, got really hot, shut down the AC, and continued to get hot, and we were creeping up the mountain until the summit with reduced power. Everything was fine on the downslope, once the engine cooled off...the AC became functional, and she in her 6.3L suburban was long gone.

That being said, the turbo does give you an advantage at altitude, compressing the air and giving you a denser charge than you might normally get. Worked well for piston engine airplanes in World War II, and also for Audi, when they first took the Pikes Peak races with their quattro coupe, which had a turbo charger. The bigger V8 purpose built Pikes Peak racers would make about 1/2 their rated horsepower by the time they got to the top

 

Like a fool one time I followed a friend in her Suburban up a mountain in Palm Springs "it's much shorter this way..." in 120 degrees. My 2.5 L G1 Legend, fully loaded, got really hot, shut down the AC, and continued to get hot, and we were creeping up the mountain until the summit with reduced power. Everything was fine on the downslope, once the engine cooled off...the AC became functional, and she in her 6.3L suburban was long gone.

That being said, the turbo does give you an advantage at altitude, compressing the air and giving you a denser charge than you might normally get. Worked well for piston engine airplanes in World War II, and also for Audi, when they first took the Pikes Peak races with their quattro coupe, which had a turbo charger. The bigger V8 purpose built Pikes Peak racers would make about 1/2 their rated horsepower by the time they got to the top

 

YEA! Welcome to my world Chas2! I live at the base of Pikes Peak! I haven't noticed much loss at this altitude w/ a tourbo, but it hasn't been that hot here yet. We usually don't get to 100 deg. here. (Thank GOD!) It gets hot enough at around the mid 90's!