Ecoboost / Ecoflex engines

[ultralaser]

Hey all,

Happened to have a Astra with a 1 litre ecoflex as a rental this week and was super impressed with it (the engine as opposed to the car), I also see that other manufactures seems to have small turbo charged units (the obvious others being the Ford 125 PS 1 litre turbo petrol and a similar one by the VAG group fitted to the Leon and Ateca. These seem to be relatively new, online I read a lot of speculation that adding a pokey turbo to such a small petrol engine would likely effect longevity, so just wondering what you guys think of these engines - and how they've managed to get so much power from such small engines and why we haven't seen these before?

 

[ultralaser]

Interesting replies. Especially on the previous iterations of this approach but in more enthusiast cars. I almost expected that with the more mainstream models like fords ecoboost they'd be designed to take into account being treated a little more harshly? I mean the two issues you mention seem to be things you could have the ECU detect and control / stop. also I guess I thought I'd have heard in the mainstream press if these little turbo engines where falling to pieces all the time?