Driving a turbo vs supercharged

[Coyotes55086]

What are the major differences in the driving experience from a turbo to a supercharged car? What do you notice the most from one compared to the other? Major differences

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[BmacIL]

Wooooooshhh vs Weeeeeeeeee

 

[Balr14]

In general terms, a roots or twin screw supercharger produces immediate boost, while a turbo creates boost at higher rpms. Of course there are exceptions. A centrifugal supercharger operates much like a turbo and two small turbos create immediate boost but run out of breath. It depends on the car and the intended purpose. Large, single turbos have an advantage at the drag strip, where lag isn't a factor. Roots and twin screw SCs are very nice on the street and all-around usage.

 

[Quattrodave]

Not that I'm sure it'll even register to most on here but driving a turbo when off boost tends to use a lot less fuel than a supercharger setup.

Exhaust note is more muted in a turbo setup also.

 

[tokuzumi]

Twin screw will usually be the easiest to install, since the entire thing is mounted in place of the intake manifold, minus the heat exchange pump and associated hoses. Because these are referred to as "positive displacement", you can usually get boost shortly off of idle.

Centrifugal superchargers usually require components to be moved around to make room for the supercharger unit. These require some RPM to begin building boost, so you have to wind out the engine a bit to start getting into boost.

Turbos would probably be the most involved install, depending on kit, as you may need to tap into an oil source to keep the turbos lubed up. But because the turbos are fed off of exhaust pressure, there is less/no parasitic drag from the engine having to turn the S/C with a belt. It can be possible to hide the turbos for a sleeper installation. The intake piping could look like the car just has a cold air intake. Turbo sizes are critical here based on engine goals. Smaller turbos build boost very quickly, but run out of capability at higher RPMs. Might be better for a stock engine. Huge turbos take longer to spool and won't generate boost at lower RPMs, but will make huge power up top.

Decide what your goals are for the car, which will help you decide what you want out of the driving experience. The gas pedal is more than just an on/off switch.

 

[Coyotes55086]

Which one of these systems is going to produce the biggest "hit" feeling when the boost hits ? How would 2 twin turbos be mounted to each side of the engine . Both decent in size but not huge ?

 

[Torched10]

I have/had twin turbo caddy,a supercharged jaguar,a supercharged STS V and a 14 Shelby.i got the biggest launch feel in back with supercharged cars,esp the 662hp shelby.the other 3 cars had 450 hp,with smaller block,so of course higher cubed Shelby would have more umf to it.

 

[tokuzumi]

Biggest "hit" is going to be dependent on setup. All turbo cars I've owned and driven (modern and older) have always been a little bit like a dog trying to pull you on a leash. Pull. Slack. Pull. Slack. Pullllllllll. Newer ones are certainly better at masking turbo lag with torque management and transmission shifting algorithms (assuming automatic).

The Grand Prix GTP I had 13 years ago didn't seem to have a noticeable build up of boost. Just push the gas and go. But I suspect total boost pressure was low, so lag wasn't really noticeable.

 

[Armageddon Turbo]

Superchargers have stump pulling grunt. Turbos pull like a freight train.

 

[svtfever]

smaller twins will spool faster. if going bigger there might be a small delay but when it comes on- hold on. turbos are awesome too because there are no stage 2 kits to buy. I am running twin comp 6467s. weather was nicer today so I got a little bit of traction. OMG! Roots style might be more ideal for street driving and immediate power but the turbos will pull very hard once getting into power band. Also, when I say delay, with twins its minimal. I start seeing boost around 3500 rpm.

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