So, went on a short family vacation to the Colorado Springs area last week. Nice area and we had a great time. We drove my wife's Explorer with the Ecoboost engine. Wow, quite a good motor in the mountains! Drove up Pike's Peak and never seemed to waver a bit. First time with a turbo motor at altitude. I was impressed

If you don't know, a turbo is an automatic altitude adjuster. As the air gets thinner, the turbo automatically spins faster adjusting for the altitude. Turbos rock in the mountains.

I was thinking that I had read that somewhere but this was the first time taking one from flat Nebraska into the mountains. We had a previous Explorer with a normally aspirated V-6 and it was OK but you really had to run up the revs to get meaningful power. Might make me consider the Ecoboost F-150 in the future

A conventional engine loses 3% of it's power for each 1000' above sea level. At 10,000' that's 30%, about 42% on Pikes Peak. I've driven up there a couple of times and the loss of power near the peak is very noticeable. I'm sure even the turbo loses some power, but not that much.

My 2014 F-150 has the 5.0 V8. If I towed anything of any weight, or lived in the west I'd have held out for the 3.5 turbo.

A turbo engine loses the same as naturally aspirated engines, off boost. Boost is a little harder to get at high altitude, but on full boost the turbo will give near full power, as long as normal max pressure is available

Complete nonsense. The turbo is driven by exhaust gas.

Wow! I'd like to understand the technology behind that, and have it installed in my F350 diesel.

That statement is right up there with the blower on the Interceptor V8 in the Mad Max movies being turned off and on.


Clyde

2 words.......

Flux Capacitor.

A friend has one amd pulls a largish 18' Bay boat w/200 Yamaha on back. His truck mostly stays in boost mode (sea level, flat ground) while towing but he really likes that truck better than any others he has owned.

Thank you for the support.

Here is a fun fact, the exhaust gas is thinner too. I am a trained diesel mechanic. That was taught at the illustrious Wyotech in their diesel department. Given you don't keep 100% of the power at sea level, but a turbo will spin faster at altitude than at sea level with the engine supplying a set amount of fuel.

A turbo doesn't know what the altitude is. All it does is spin to max boost then hit the blow off or get very inefficient. Since the air thinner on the way in, it is thinner on the way out which lets it spin faster. Google it, I dare you.

Edit - This only applies to turbos. A supercharger or blower is driven by the crank, it can not self adjust.

If you have a diesel, you already have it. If not, buy a turbo kit for your truck.

Depends a little on the turbo, if it's variable geometry (or even waste gated to some extent), there's lot of adjusting of boost pressure to fuel usage. a modern VG turbo adjusts based on boost pressure called for by the ECM based on fuel demand, so if the air is thinner, it'll definitely spin faster or adjust vane angle.