A turbo car or a naturally-aspirated engine-powered car?

[leopaul]

I have a question, ano ang mas bagay for us, car enthusiasts?

A typical car which is powered by a turbocharger (or superchargers if necessary), or a car powered by a naturally aspirated (NA) engine?

Take your time..

[noobskie]

Turbochargers and superchargers add to the maintenance of the car. It's typically a small engine equipped with one or a bigger one that is naturally aspirated.
It really depends, as for me I'd go for the smaller turbo charged ones (typically seen in EVOs and STIs) since all you really need are some other mods like a full exhaust upgrade, bigger intercooler, piggyback mod chip, suspension and brake upgrades and you're ready to go.

[niky]

A forced-induction engine will usually make more power and will have more performance from just off-idle to redline than a similar-sized naturally aspirated engine.

BUT: A good naturally aspirated engine sounds and feels wonderful. It takes work to "keep it on boil", and it's invigorating to plumb the depths of its powerband and to explore its character fully.

As such... a Nissan GT-R may be much faster than a BMW M3... but the M3 sounds like sin and the manic revving of that growling V8 just seems much more dramatic than the relentless locomotive thrust of the GT-R...

[alwayz_yummy]

force-induction-- may turbo lag and sudden kick pag sumipa ang turbo..most turbo nowadays, lesser lag na..ung tipong, magiisip pa muna...

supercharger has a more smoother power curve..

for NA, lesser maintenance and "shutting down" routine..

me i always fancied the i idea of owning a 230ps forrester xt...but bukod sa di ko afford, masmabusisi maintenance...so i chose a xtrail 250x.....that can still go 100kph in 10sec or slightly less (according to fifth gear.) and has a great offroad capability against most cSUV.

[ghosthunter]

I have a question, ano ang mas bagay for us, car enthusiasts?

A typical car which is powered by a turbocharger (or superchargers if necessary), or a car powered by a naturally aspirated (NA) engine?

Depends on the kind of driving you plan to do with the car.

A turbocharged car feels really powerful but it comes at the cost higher maintenance and higher stress to the motor itself. Power delivery is (generally) not as linear so you have to keep the revs higher to keep the power available, much like trying to keep the revs between 6000 to 8000 on a Honda B16 engine (but in a turbocharged engine, you have to keep it in the "boost" range).

A n/a car feels more smooth in it's power delivery. It feels wonderful to drive on roads that snake left/right. Power is generally available nearly anywhere along the RPM curve.

[emms1121]

Sir GH, for drag racing you would recommend turbocharged engine?

[uls]

racing?

definitely turbo

--

even just for fun

there's nothing like the sound of a turbo spooling up

and the feeling of boost

[Type 100]

Actually if you are up-to-date with European motoring news, the trend for small cars these days is forced induction.

VW in particular is gaining fame because of its "Twincharger" 1.4L TSI engine - supercharged at low RPM then boosted by a turbo at high RPM. It's not a new concept (Nissan made the twin-charged March Super Turbo 1.0L in 1982) but it's gaining popularity now.

BMW is also believed to switch over to turbo power for its M models which were originally all normally aspirated.

The draw of small-displacement turbo engines is fuel economy and added power and torque (the VW Twincharger 1.4L engine makes 170+ BHP in peak tune and there are lesser variants sold). Then again it still depends on how you drive it. If you activate the boost all the time, the fuel economy gains aren't going to come into fruition.

Car and Driver in the US also measured the fuel economy of these smaller boosted motors compared to their larger NA counterparts and found the fuel economy gains negligible at best.

[Negus]

NA for precision.

[Type 100]

In terms of personal preference...I'd opt for NA.

An NA engine usually doesn't bring you nasty surprises when driving - its power and torque delivery characteristics are predictable and exploitable. The power rises and falls linearly along the RPM band, and Niky is correct that it needs work keeping it on the boil - but the reward is consistent response.

Another thing I like about NA cars is that they tend to lend themselves better to driver skill and input - they let you be the boss. It takes skill to drive around a track quickly without relying on the boost of a turbo, so your attention is focused on increasing your corner entry speed and improving your line through turns. With turbos all you have to do is let the boost work for you and take you out of the corner - not very fun IMO.

I like showing the car who's boss. :D

If I absolutely had to have boost, a supercharger is the next best thing for me.

[4agze]

Depends on what you want to achieve?

most tuner like NA due to instant engine response, less moving parts, in a environment like Philippines notorious heat and humidity NA engine is better.

Turbo may give you more HP/trq but lag, environmental heat is a big factor in Phil. heat and humidity generates a lot of "heat soak" it can be fix by a bigger intercooler but you loose boost by doing that.

Supercharger (root type) just like turbo can generate a lot of HP/trq best for engine below 2.0liter 4 cylinder, no lag, less parts than a turbo and don't need a intercooler.

Supercharger (twin screw) same as the root type but needs a intercooler

Supercharger (centrifugal) it may look like turbo but it don't need a intercooler

just like my screen name I prefer superchargers

[ghosthunter]

Sir GH, for drag racing you would recommend turbocharged engine?

Generally yes because you can get more power from a lighter engine package.

But there are problems associated with a turbo engine including hook-up during launch and turbo-lag.

[ghosthunter]

BTW, driving a RWD turbo car can be dangerous if you aren't prepared.

Example: if you floor the gas pedal just before the apex of a curve, power delivery will be delayed because the turbo has to spool up. A second later, the turbo spools and delivers huge power suddenly to the rear wheels. The car ends up with it's rear end sliding, resulting in oversteer.

This already happened to me a couple of times. First time (200SX) I was able to catch it. The other time caught me by surprise (4x2 turbo pickup).

Modern cars with traction control should prevent such from getting out of control, like my experience with the Genesis Coupe & Subaru Legacy GT sedan/wagon, pushing it to get the rear end to slide out on a fast corner.

[4agze]

BTW, driving a RWD turbo car can be dangerous if you aren't prepared.

Example: if you floor the gas pedal just before the apex of a curve, power delivery will be delayed because the turbo has to spool up. A second later, the turbo spools and delivers huge power suddenly to the rear wheels. The car ends up with it's rear end sliding, resulting in oversteer.

so true specially if you have 2 way LSD keeps you on your toes thats why I love RWD cars

[babkalakal]

Generally yes because you can get more power from a lighter engine package.

But there are problems associated with a turbo engine including hook-up during launch and turbo-lag.

on the top fuel dragsters i think this is the reason why they prefer superchargers rather than turbos on their 6000hp sleds. The superchargers works just off idle and doesn't have the dreaded turbo lag epecially when shifts occur.

[babkalakal]

tama lahat ng opinion but i would not say one is necessarily better than the other. case in point ang bagong bmw 335i. tons of low end torque but still revs to 6800-7000rpm. kahit turbo sya lag is not perceptible. barely at most when you are looking for it. Another good point for the NA case is yung RS4 audi with the 4.2 V8 direct injection na ata ito. Max torque is developed at a reasonably low 2750rpm yet it still revs to 8000rpm very flexible engine.

[4agze]

I want to add not all motor are good in NA and vice versa, example SR20DE without the turbo it sucks (I have the NA trust me its sad) RB20,25,28DE without the turbo skyline wont be a monster. 13B without turbo in FC3S & FD3S RX7 will just be a RX8 and 2JZGE without the turbo in a supra is just another metal with 4 wheels, some cars are born to have turbo some needs to keep NA.

[dr. d]

less parts... less malfunctions.. less surprises..
but if you are a car nut who simply has to get his hands dirty, all bets are off.