What feels faster to drive??

[Phat VR6 3]

Between a 400bhp rotrex and 400bhp turbo.. which will feel fastest to drive? Would the turbo feel faster because of all the lag..., Then a massive hit of power making it feel faster?

Turbo more power lower down the rev range?

[Devildub_06 0]

Corr that's a nice little Pandora's box you've opened lmao!! I would say turbo (Right up until you smash the gearbox). Logic would suggest to me that it would feel slower in a supercharged car until it comes on song owing to the parasitic load the charger exerts on the engine all the way through the rev range. It would effectively have to "work" harder to produce the 400BHP over the turbocharged equivalent. But then coming to the Turbo car it's not necessarily true that it would leave an s/c standing. A dustbin sized turbo would easily produce the whoomph but lag so much, whereas a nice and small lag free turbo would roll in early but potentially run out of puff before the redline. There are many people with differing set ups with even more varying results, but it seems people are happier with turbos as they are more tractable and easier to tune for bigger power.

And both would depend on traction!!

Right, gum shield is now in and prepared for the torrent of abuse!! :$

Above all FI rules!

[Kelster 0]

I am gonna say turbo ! But I have no experience of a supercharged car so will briefly explain. AFAIK supercharger is a smoother delivery so is closer to the NA car just faster (eek hope that is accurate). Now my VR is NA atm and has 40 BHP and a faster 0-60 etc than my wifes turbo charged car. However, my wifes car does in fact feel quicker even though it isn't. Make sence ? Thought not

[Devildub_06 0]

What's your wife's car? And I take i you mean your nasp VR has 40 bhp more than standard??????

[Ben Seabrook 4]

What's your wife's car? And I take i you mean your nasp VR has 40 bhp more than standard??????

Fairly sure he means his VR has 40 more BHP than his wife's car - oh and I would say turbo but I am sure more knowledgable peeps on here will give plenty of reasons for and against

[Devildub_06 0]

And he drops the ball in 3...2...1...I need to get to secsavers I think! In reading it like that then, the vr against his wifes car will obviously be faster than his wifes car as it can create the power and torque without having to "come on boost" It's the torque that gets you to a speed quicker too, and even stock nasp vr's have bundles of it!!

[Kelster 0]

Okay reading my last post it is a bit ambiguous. Will try again.......

My Car NA VR6 185BHp, 0-60 fook knows 7.8 ? - using this to be like the supercharged car as is smooth delivery

Wifes car 150BHp, 0-60 not sure but slower than mine - using this as the turbo car (as it has one)

However, Wifes car (2.2D Jag Estate ...eek please don't kill me) feels quicker as when the turbo kicks it you feel a big change in acceleration. Does that help ? That is my reasoning behind the turbo imo feeling quicker.

[Devildub_06 0]

Erm, think i'll stay out of this now before I really do get thrashed lmao.

[Phat VR6 3]

lmao... probaly best haha.. So this is swaying me towards the turbo so far + the easy of changin boost levels and possibly for more power from the turbo

[xyber 1]

charged = smooth power delivery

turbo = kick in the arse

its the whole experience of the turbo that will always make them feel quicker because of the sudden 'shot from a gun' feeling, the woosh of the turbo spooling up etc wheras charged vr's just get louder and more exagerated V6 sound with added little howl and the odd chuff from the recirc if you have one

but then the bigger boost rotrex units are insane when sorted properly and I would have trouble deciding between a rotrex and a turbo, both have pro's and con's and just depends on what you are looking for.

Think you need a ride in both options haha

[Bobtrude 0]

I think Turbo feels faster aswell, but I would like to say something about turbolag vs the superchargers "non lag" but with the need of high RPMs to get max power.

If you choose a small turbo with dual bearings like the gt 3076r it can provide enough air up to 400 hp and will spool up very fast.

Some even say that they spool up too early. . . . and they keep trucking all the way up to the redline.

IMO the compressor has the biggest lag of all, not being able to deliver max hp before you hit the redline.

My slow ass t04e turbo spools up at 3500 and is peeking around 4--4500 rpms. So i have 300bhp from 4--4500 and all the way to 7000 an not only on the very peak of RPM.

[pops 1]

gt35r with .84 housing spins up around 3200 rpm creates so much torque, its unreal yet the car still extremely fast off boost , i don`t know of any supercharger that can create more torque than horse power, if you got the torque you going places, it also down to the mapping , engine spec,

[VWC 0]

yep turbo will always feel faster and is faster the main difference is the torque bump between 3-5k superchargers dont come close...

its great having loads of torque on paper but on the road the driver/engine/gearbox has to be able to handle it and control it otherwise its wasted

the rotrex gives something different but can still make big power

[Radostormvr6 2]

I going from Vortech to Turbo, its the only way forward

[FishWick 21]

400hp of turbonator or 400hp of Rotrexishness......hmmm...... Turbo for me :-)

Centrifugal chargers take too long to wind up for my tastes, but are reasonably efficient for a crank driven booster. Positive displacement chargers are the ones that actually kick your lower back from idle, but you generally only see those on big V8s because they're so inefficient, such as yank tanks and the might SL55 AMG.

I've been in a couple of Rotrexishness VR6s and with all the hype about them in recent years, I was somewhat dissapointed to find they don't really "kick" until you're way up the revs. I was hoping for some more lower rev meatiness to be honest.

As mentioned already, it's the torque that does the moving and with my experience of Vortechs, Rotrexes and 3 different sizes of turbo, the most perfect blend of daily usability and comedy pace on the VR6, is the GT35R turbo with 0.82 hotside :-).

Each to our own though. I'm not taking anything away from the Rotrex. It's a brilliantly compact and clever unit, but crank driven turbos just don't spool as fast as exhaust driven turbos. But lots of people like them and get on with them.

[Bobtrude 0]

The compressor should have had an air dumpvalve so that it could charge max at lets say 2500 rpms and the overflow of air wouls be released out into atmos.

[FishWick 21]

On the Rotrex you mean?

I suppose a bypass system could be incoporated but if the charger is geared to boost that early in the rev range, it might over spin further up the revs and grenade itself.

If it's geared to boost late, there's a danger you won't see max boost until 15 billion rpm.

I wouldn't fancy designing an S/C system tbh!

[xyber 1]

do you turbo lot get much grief reliabilty wise?

[Bobtrude 0]

Hmmm I have broken my turbo once allready. But that was on the autobahn and with the lack of oil cooler i guess I had it comming.