Why the Supercharger is dying.
Now every car guy should know this but for those of you who don’t, there is a thing called Forced Induction. Forced Induction is when air is forced into an engine of any sort with the help of a Supercharger or a Turbocharger. (Check out my post explaining the difference of the two.) You would generally see Turbochargers when your at a Drag strip or out in the night street racing, mainly because they would (but not all the time) make more power than a Supercharger. Now, since a Supercharger is ran off a belt or chain that is being spun by the Engine’s crankshaft, it kills MPG and some people even say that’s the reason it makes less power than a Turbocharger because the crankshaft needs more work to make the power. And the extra work being used is Horsepower. And nowadays, the tree huggers demand more fuel efficient cars and the petrol head tree huggers want that, but with more power. That’s why most of your car companies ditched the Supercharger and use a Turbocharger because it’s more fuel efficient. Or just create a more powerful naturally aspirated engine. Your new Muscle cars and very few sedans and such, use the Supercharger. Your new Volvos, which have a Turbo AND a Supercharger, Jags, and the Hellcats and other cars in that nature. Don’t forget Audi. Now Audi,Jag,and Volvo Supercharge their cars, BUT, with a V-6 engine. The Smaller the engine, the better MPG you get. They are simply trying to keep the Supercharger alive and i think you should, too. Now Muscle cars on the other hand, does this with V8s. The new Shelby 1000 Has a Whipple Supercharged V8 that makes 1,100 Horsepower. The reason they did it is to make more power. And it has HORRIBLE MPG. But who cares because who’s gonna drive a 1,100 horsepower car every day? (Me.) So Muscle cars are the soul reason why Superchargers aren’t dead. You got a few Hypercars. Yes. HYPERcars that come out the factory stock with superchargers overseas but that’s in places like Austria, Poland, and The Netherlands. But no one really gives two Fs about those countries when it comes to cars because they don’t mass produce different models like Porsche,Lamborghini,Aston-Martin,ETC. So they are also trying to save the supercharger. Back in the early 90’s, Aston-Martin made the most powerful engine. It had a twin-Supercharged V-8 that made 550 Horsepower. Yeah. TWIN Supercharged. But now that it’s 2016,It’s all about, YEAH TURBO DUDE!!! And now people are even Turbocharging Muscle cars. Who does that? I know you want more power but that’s defiling the Muscle car heritage. So Guys, Lets’s try to save the Superchargers, alright? We NEED these things in our lives. Seriously, Superchargers were the first form of Forced Induction So we can’t just kill it off. #WHINE LIVES MATTER.
Comments
Id be capable of using superchargers instead of turbo just for the whine. Absolutely love it. But as you told, the states are doing it impossible with mpg nowadays and it became impossible to us such devices with low budget because of taxes and petrol cost. These arguments about the superchargers are not big enought to change the preference for the turbo instead of the superchargers
Stop whining
Clever 😏
Like you said above, it’s hard for a supercharged car to have good mpgs, that’s why car manufacturers are turning to turbos. I look at it like this, turbos come from the factory to get good mpgs and power, but for aftermarket upgrades an supercharger would be a better idea. Just because a supercharger is (generally) easier to install and requires less parts. As well as it does not put to much stress on the engine. For example, a brz, a turbo charger would require a lot of piping and parts but a supercharger running at relatively low boost wouldn’t need much to function. And a supercharger could be ran on stock internal a without damage
Correct me if I’m wrong
Lotus still supercharge there cars.
I think that as an add-on to n/a car the supercharger is a much cleverer choice than turbo. It is a simpler and cheaper built that stresses the engine less and gives enough of a horsepower gain in most engines. Plus, in high revving engines if you don’t eant massive turbo lag or losing the top end a supercharger is the only reasonable option.
That said i quite prefer a twin turbo set up than a supercharger, but that is massively more expensive.
Get you a car that can do both
Turbos are decreasing in lag and widening their powerband and every year, which makes it hard to justify getting a supercharger
Superchargers arent disappearing. Automakers just doesnt use them in their cars and thats mainly because fuel efficiency is a huge attraction today. There will always be a third party supplying good superchargers and turbo chargers for that matter. And todays american muscle cars arent that American anyway. V6, plastic bumpers, fuel injection. If they really stayed true to the car, theyd evolve carburettors and only use NA V8s and maybe a super charger on the hell cat equivalent.
The v6s and plastic bumpers are the standard versions. your stuff like the shelby and the ZL1 are the top dogs. but anyway,the new muscle cars are still muscle,they just changed their style. no one wants a 2017 Shelby Mustang GT500 Supersnake with a carburetor! Pfft!
As an engineer (in training) it’s easy; 2 ways of creating boost and more power, 1 is free and the other costs engine power (and will result in poorer mpg). free source (-> turbo) it is!
Being in uni I spend most of my time designing concepts and these are the sort of thought processes that go along with it.
Ummm turbo + charger =win win ijs