[QUOTE='87 Turbo II]there's more a chance of a supercharger than a turbo someone posted it and I completely forgot why but there is a good reason that a turbo charger is rarely used on anything nowadays other than an inline 4.[/QUOTE]
If car makers want to go FI (forced induction) on a production motor, there are a few reasons :
1) The biggest is emissions......EPA testing is just when the car is warmed up and running.....a big part of it is 'cold start emissions', how much pollution it puts out after its started untill its warmed up. Catalytic converts need to heat up to fuction at 100%. When you have a turbo car, there is a big hunk of steel in the exhaust stream, it acts like a head sink and pulls a lot of heat out of the exhaust gasses, extending the ammount of time it takes for the catalytic converter to get up to temp and operate at 100%. Superchargers dont affect the emissions in the same way.
2) Drivability. People always want turbo cars for big power, but then they complain about turbo lag, so the car makers put a small turbo on it so there is little to no lag, then people complain about not having enough power....ect. So makers put on twin turbos, ect and that adds to cost (i will get to that later). Superchargers give instant power, and a good boost in TQ accross the RPM range....making the car feel faster than it is.
3) Wear and tear, even if you have a super charged car and a turbo charged car making the same ammount of power and tq the wear is greater on a turbo car....why? With a supercharged car the power comes in gradualy and builds across the RPM range, with a turbo car (espcialy larger turbos) the power is ultimately the same at peak, but it goes from lower power to full high power over a few hundred RPM vs a few thousand RPM with a supercharger. Thats just the nature of a turbo, it takes time to spool up but once it does the power comes in fast and hard....giving you that sudden kick (that I love) but that also means a quicker, harder 'shock load' on the trany and diff.....leading to more wear with the same power of the same time as a supercharged car.
4) Cost. Lets face it, there are LOTS more parts to put in with a turbo car. Especialy if you are making an NA version and Turbo version of a car with the same motor. The turbo car needs a new exhaust, piping, intercooler (if its making much more power than stock, turbo(s)....ect, ect. With a supercharger, most of the time you dont need an intercooler...even with higher compression. A lot of the time the supercharger can replace the intake manifold, or use minial piping to go in.....allowing you to simply bolt the supercharger up to the NA car, vs adding all these new specific parts.
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