Turbos Vs Superchargers

[Steve]

Turbos Vs Superchargers, in your opinion which is better? and why?

[Danny87]

Both are forced induction so do very much the same thing, but I think superchargers have an advantage in not needing to spin up, thus they are able to compress the air at lower RPM. A turbocharger has to spin up until it starts providing compressed air, from my understanding a supercharger is more efficient. This is probably because a supercharger is driven directly from the engine, where as a turbocharger is ran off the exhaust gasses.

I'm going to say supercharger because it sounds awesome and makes me think of American Muscle :D. In retrospect though, a turbocharged vehicle is probably cheaper on fuel if driven carefully, where as a supercharger is always running so it's more of a drag on the engine.

The sound of forced induction is awesome though, my father had a TDi Mitsubishi Colt previously (it was a Mercedes 3-cylinder) and with your windows down, on a quiet road speeding up to NSL, you could hear the turbo whine and it overpowered the clatter of the diesel engine, it was like 'whooooosh' and all of a sudden you'd feel a surge of power. Who said diesel's can't be fun to drive! I'd buy a modern TDi engine without any doubt.