Turbocharger V Superchargers

[SilverArrowZ]

ok.. maybe he just want us to debate in a more polite way? hmm.. lets look at things objectively.. here goes..

waatz hope you can answer my question here(and anybody else too), just to see what you think and a little bit of why i think turbo is better:

1. Why do you think funny car use supercharger?
2. Why do you think mercedes use supercharger too?
3. Why is japanese rally car, evo and wrx, use turbo?
4. If supercharger can charged more power, then why is mercedes' bhp/displacement ratio?
5. Why is there more mags talking about turbo rather than supercharger?
6. Why is that the major aftermarket manufacture such as HKS/Greddy/Apexi and others sell turbo, and not supercharger? well at least i don't know if they sell or not.

And here is a few question that will neutralize things abit, not siding with any charger, and question i've been thinking lately:

1. If one of them is better than the other one, why did they both still available? If one is better than another one, won't the bad one be discarded?

2. I've see a patern here. Do you think that way of charging depend on the design of the car? Somehow i see a patern that western car do more supercharging and eastern car do more turbo charging. eg: Mercedes use supercharger, your funny car use super charger(asian don't play much with that kind of dragster, we mod a stock car to drag), your mustang svt cobra use supercharger. On the other hand, most high peformance japanese car uses turbocharger, like skyline, supra, nsx, evo, wrx and so on. Do you think design affect charging?

well.. thats all for tonite.. i'm sleepy now.. hope someone can answer the questions and we will get to continue debating

[johnnynumfiv]

1 and 2. they use superchargers because the engines they start with already have power, it takes power to make power, ricers don't have much power to start with so they use turbo's.

3. Turbo's produce power quickly. sometimes they kick in at a certain RPM, since superchargers are spun by something similar to a serpintine belt, they run all the time.

5. Seeing how the whole ricer fad is going strong, turbo's are more popular because of them.

6. They might be targeting the ricer people.


1. Its the application that the person wants to use or thier personal preference.

2.The funny cars use superchargers cause they have the power to waste on turning them, its more efficent in this case because of the setup, they would weigh much more if they had to put as many turbo's on to produce as much as the supercharger does and since they have open headers, it might back up the exhaust with the turbo. Not many muscle cars have turbos on them,it might because they can put superchargers on but i don't know why but that is the way it is.

[Coventrysucks]

1. Why do you think funny car use supercharger?
2. Why do you think mercedes use supercharger too?
3. Why is japanese rally car, evo and wrx, use turbo?
4. If supercharger can charged more power, then why is mercedes' bhp/displacement ratio?
5. Why is there more mags talking about turbo rather than supercharger?
6. Why is that the major aftermarket manufacture such as HKS/Greddy/Apexi and others sell turbo, and not supercharger? well at least i don't know if they sell or not.

1 - Superchargers have a faster response time, important when you are accelerating to 100 mph in a few tenths of a second. Also Drag cars have pretty much nothing in the way of exhaust, therefore nothing to attach a turbo to.

2 - USP, or Unique Selling Point. Every one else uses turbos, so why not use a kompressor. It also recalls the old racing cars which ran with kompressors.

3 - Rally cars use turbos rather than superchargers because they have small engines which don't suit the demands of the supercharger. Also strict Japanese emission laws favour turbocharged cars.

4 - that question doesn't really make sense to me

5 - More magazines talk about turbos because more cars have turbos than superchargers.

6 - More people want superchargers? Turbos are probably more popular aftermarket add ons because they are quite compact.
There is a company selling a supercharger kit for the 350Z, but it has to have a modifyed bonnet (hood) so that the supercharger will fit.

1. If one of them is better than the other one, why did they both still available? If one is better than another one, won't the bad one be discarded?

2. I've see a patern here. Do you think that way of charging depend on the design of the car? Somehow i see a patern that western car do more supercharging and eastern car do more turbo charging. eg: Mercedes use supercharger, your funny car use super charger(asian don't play much with that kind of dragster, we mod a stock car to drag), your mustang svt cobra use supercharger. On the other hand, most high peformance japanese car uses turbocharger, like skyline, supra, nsx, evo, wrx and so on. Do you think design affect charging?

1 - Neither one is "better". It is dependant on the application, sometimes turbocharing is a better solution, sometimes supercharging is a better solution.

2 - Supercharging is more suited to large, powerful engines.
With a general agreement to keep power limited to 276bhp, not many Japanese cars are powerful enough to benefit from supercharging, due to the fact that the supercharger is powered by the engine.
The turbocharger doesn't add any extra load to the engine, and is more emmision friendly.

Superchargers are used on large engines to boost power, and are used on more "upmarket" cars as they give more power, and importantly, torque across the rev range, which creates a smoother driving car, although a good twin turbo set up will do the same.

Drag cars ideally want as much power and torque as possible, and quickly.
As most dragster engines are so powerful, the supercharger is the best way to attain this, and the "drain" of the supercharger is not so much of a problem.