Turbo vs Supercharger - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

NickCats · 11-26-2006, 10:23 AM

I wanted to get some feedback from some of the great technical minds on this forum regarding the pros and cons of adding twin turbos ( exhaust driven ) or a supercharger ( belt driven ) to a Boxster

From what I can tell, adding twin turbos will give you approx. 60 hp for around $7k :

http://www.turbowerx.com/page1/page3/page3.html

TriGem2k, why are you considering this over a supercharger ?

Alternatively, a supercharger will give you approx. 80 hp for around $6k :

http://www.imagineauto.com/boxster%20sc.htm

ohioboxster, what made you go with the supercharger over twin turbos ?

Overall, I guess what I am wondering is this :

What makes one better than the other ?

Which would put more wear and tear on the engine ?

What are the advantages / disadvantages between the two in terms of performance ?

Thanks in advance for your input

Nick

JP-s-in st. louis · 11-26-2006, 11:36 AM

with the SC you get NO leg and plenty of TQ. Plus you have companies that have been S/C Porsche for a while (IA (2.5 and 3.2) and TPC (2.5 only))

I have no clue who is doing the TT

ohioboxster · 11-26-2006, 11:53 AM

Nick,

I went with the Supercharger kit for one reason only, price. I found a gently used like new kit on E-bay. I there would have been a twin turbo kit I would have bought that one. Turbo or supercharger is just personal taste. Its cool to say "I have a twin turbo Boxster" or "My boxster is supercharged" but as far as performance they are so close it will come down to opinion. I would never have paid 6 or 7 thousand and 2 thousand for install, would have just bought a different car. Thats just me because I dont keep cars for more than a couple of years and want to keep my losses to a minimum.
As far as wear and tear goes they are both air pumps and do the same thing, force more air into the motor which allows more fuel to be burned. I would think the only wear and tear factor is going to be the drivers right foot. Once again, my car only goes into boost when I put it there.
Im not sure at what point the turbo makes power, is there lag waiting for them to spool up? I dont know. The belt driven supercharger makes power right away when you stab the gas. As you know the Boxster is dead off the line. The supercharger makes up for the low end lack of power. I would have to ride in a turbo powered Boxster to form an opinion about the differences.

Thanks Nick, this is probably the longest reply to any thread in my life. My opinon would be keep searching or a used kit on the net if your considering forced induction. I honestly looked for months and cant believe I wasnt bidding against other forum members for the kit. I bid against one guy who didnt even own a Boxster but knew it was such a deal and I would have paid more by the way.