Frobnitz

Seems like more and more manufacturers are getting away from supercharging engines and going more towards turbo. I always thought superchargers were more reliable, efficient, and "safer" in a sense. Granted you cant run as much power with an S/C over a T/C but manufacturers dont care about people being able to turn up the power levels as alot of time it can void warranty's. So as we see more and more T/C'd cars coming out, do you think the era of the S/C'd car is over with?

Turboron_99

It is cheaper to maintian a T/C car, in factory form.... and also turbocharged cars also require less maintance as per dealerships. So T/C will probably be standard Factory form of F/I

Lazyshot

According to my cousin, as a ford dealership salesman, turbochargers are becoming more and more frequent in factory cars because of it's status with the EPA as an Emissions Device. This is especially true for newer SUVs where they are ripping out the gas hog V6s and V8s and replacing them with turbo'd I4s(Ecoboost). This includes Fords new Explorer, Edge, and Range Rover Evoque. He also mentioned an SUV with a twin turbo'd I4, but I don't remember exactly what it was.

majik

John Krafcik has said Hyundai is leaning towards the elimination of V6 vehicles and replacing them with turbo 4cylinders to abide by federal MPG regulations and leaving V8s for the big power.



Ford is releasing a 2011 F150 Twin-Turbo V6

03tibe85

There's a couple of reasons why more OEMs are going the Turbocharger route:



1) Due to the new CAFE standards OEMs need to have a higher corporate MPG average across the whole vehicle line. This means replacing big wasteful V8 engines with smaller more efficient V6 and 4 cyl engines. Americans still want the power though so enter turbo charging.



2) Typically turbocharging an engine makes it more efficient when compared to supercharging. This is mainly due to the fact that a turbo is driven off of wasted exhaust gas whereas a supercharger takes power from the crankshaft to spin it.



3) It more complicated to create a good supercharging system because it typically replaces the intake manifold which houses a host of sensors and the throttle assembly. By comparison a turbocharger setup is MUCH simpler.



4) Its cheaper to buy a turbocharger and there are a lot of different companies making turbochargers compared to superchargers. There's only one maker of roots type blowers and screw type blowers so pricing can be set at a higher price. Same goes for the centrifugal type chargers.

daytonmvp23

^^^Nuff said.

But you do miss the awesome wine of a supercharger like back in the heyday of muscle cars.

Stocker

Just over-tighten your timing belt and it'll whine like that until it snaps