RE: PH Origins: Turbocharging

[AC43]

cerb4.5lee said:

otolith said:

The three litre turbodiesel plus auto in my Merc does everything one can rationally need in a daily, but it’s not exactly fun.

I think the roads you use everyday can have an impact aswell, my E92 M3 wasn't fun as my daily either, yet I'd imagine most would like the idea of a NA V8 that revs to 8400rpm...in heavy traffic/on congested roads its a downright frustrating car to use/get the best from.

Yeah, my fist 200SX was a ballache in stop-start London traffic. Getting it off the line smartly was a bit all or nothing.

On my second one I had an HKS induction kit and cat-back exhaust and that filled in a lot of the hole below 1,500 rpm.

Large modern diesels (3.0-ish) seem to have much less problem off the line. Or of course, big V8's petrols with torque curves like Ayers Rock.

[Onehp]

AC43 said:

Or of course, big V8's petrols with torque curves like Ayers Rock.

Modern turbo engines are close to approaching this, then some tuners make a Matterhorn out of it again. Depends on the goals with turbocharging...

[MHig]

Lewis K: thank you for the additional background on the turbocharged variants. You are right, of course. I expected any supercharged engines to show much higher outputs - as the racing variants do. It looks as if those low-powered ones used the supercharger to maintain performance at altitude rather than increase the maximum output.

[Mr2Mike]

kambites said:

Language changes - these days more people use "turbo lag" to mean "high boost threshold" than the tradition meaning.

This isn't a language evolution, its simply people having no idea what they are talking about, but are attempting to sound knowledgeable. A bit like saying "heat soak" when they simply mean something got hot, invariably they have no idea what the term actually refers to.

[jof]

otolith said:

The three litre turbodiesel plus auto in my Merc does everything one can rationally need in a daily, but it’s not exactly fun.

To be honest, my XF 3.0s TD auto is a hoot to drive daily. No perceptible lag, and if it wasn't for a slight clatter on start-up and a very quiet turbo whoosh it picks up like a large capacity petrol.

The N.A. 4.6 in my TVR however is on another level... half the weight though

[otolith]

My Merc has noticeable lag and a dim-witted slushbox.