nvpscore

My friend said turbo is better, so thats why hes getting his RSX-S turbocharged with HKS or Greddy. Whats better for our car as well as money wise, also what brings the best performance?

Thanks

Nick

Chris

well superchargers won't boost as much as turbos comparably... but a supercharged car will last longer than a turbocharged one. as for bang for the buck, i guess turbos would be better, but of course there's reliability issues. i just feel like supercharging a car is more reliable in the long run.

EricL

General answer....


Turbo chargers are more efficient -- by being driven from the waste gases they add backpressure, but don't require the amount of power (to drive them) that a supercharger does.

Turbos do have lag (minimal or large depending on design).

A good supercharger will have minimal lag (depending on SC type and design).

NHRA Top Fuel dragsters use superchargers...

F1 cars that were even faster than today's F1 (non-boosted) cars used turbochargers...

IMO -- That's why plenty of books are written about them (SCs and Turbos)

TypeSAddict

Well, regardless of which is better, I have only heard that a supercharger is availible (or will be soon) for our car. I have heard some reports, though, that Rick Case is woking on a twin turbo setup. That would probably destroy he car though. Can you imagine that much hp flying to the front wheels? Holy shit, the car would probably explode, not to mention the disintegrating trannies . The supercharger would cause enough problems, lets not push th envelope, okay?

blazerbob1

My choice would be a turbo but would also upgrade tranny! There are plenty of failed trans out there and now we're going to be putting on superchargers, so wonder how many more will fail and that much faster if trans are not upgraded?! Has anyone talked to Acura about replacing Automatic with 6sp. when available and what it would cost to convert?

QwiQ cLs

Turbo for manual
Supercharger for auto

Pull_T

Why?

CO-CL-S

With a manual you can blip the engine to get a quick rush into the turbo (you decide when to have the power put to the wheels or the turbo, automatic can't figure that out).

Pull_T

I agree with this, but that is more a general benefit/advantage of a manual over an automatic.

Why then is an automatic better for an s/c car. Wouldn't a manual allow you to control boost better there, too.

Which is "better" in a particular application has to do with other factors such as availability, cost, engine type and intended use along with type of transmission.

tankmonkey

to me it seems more logical to use turbo with an automatic and s/c with the manual. unless you're powershifting, you'll get out of the gas with every manual shift, which will allow the turbo to slow down, causing a lag while it spools back up to full boost in the next gear.

with a turbo-auto, you never lift, thus the turbo lag during shifts is minimized.

when you run a s/c-manual, you'll be back in the boost quicker than you generally would with a turbo, no matter how leisurely you change gears.

scalbert

Not to mention the ability to launch under boost with an automatic turbo vehicle. Load the conveter and then watch out... I loved doing 12 PSI launches in my Typhoon getting all four tires to break loose momentarily.

CL Sabre

Usually turbo chargers provide more horsepower at higher RPM. I think a supercharger makes more sense for our car because it provides an increase in torque and horsepower over almost the entire RPM range. This helps our poor gear ratios and slow launches.