Ok, so a lot of people are going to say something along the lines of "get turbo, max hp for minimal dolla bills" or "TRD supercharger if you want to go faster but would sacrifice a little performance for warranty."

What my question is, what is wrong with the TRD supercharger? It will cost about $500 less than ZPI's turbo so it's expectable to perform less (albeit, that 500 buys a LOT of performance.)

There are a lot of people who have deeper reasons for choosing one over the other (availability doesn't count) and I would like to know them. What a fellow forumer told me was that it had something to do with the 4 cylinders and their power curves and other stuffs.

I would like to know more.

Thank you all.

 

I am personally going to wait to go the SC route cuz I want the instantanious power. Superchargers do relate to your original hp numbers and give a proportional yield. So barring that the psi is messed with, you will get a percentage increase. Turbos are less predictable, as shown by the way they can just push a 160hp car to 300 if need be.

While turbos do have a much higher cap in the hp department, they still kick in at higher rpms. turbo has gotten much better, but it will never be as instantanious as the foot to the gas. For me... an everyday driver just trying to look damn good and have some fun... i want my engine to do what it's told.... WHEN it's told.

...ahem... and it won't void my warrenty... cough... cough...

 

TRD SC:
- Reliability
- Resale
- Warranty
- 0 lag

Turbo:
- Power
- Sound
- Some lag in power
- Most likely will require tuning and give some reliability problems

 

my bro got a civic, he threw in a turbo, now he is required for higher octane gas, i was wondering why and would this be a requirement if i get the SC for the tC

 

yes, in almost all cases when forcing induction of more air into the combustion chamber (hence higher compression) you will be required to run higher octane fule to prevent pre-detonation.

btw rawr, check out my website :-d

 

I would like to hear some oother opinions

 

Turbo lag is so minimal. Its not really an issue. as for superchargers. They run off your engine and is directly affected by RPM. So while you do have added power from idle, where as you don't have any added power from turbos until they spool up. Its not the 60+ hp you would like to think. Turbos are spooling up as low as 2300 rpms now. The gearing in the tC screams for turbo. the s/c is great too. But the cost + installation from toyota... you should just get the turbo in my opinion. Unless you are set on keeping the warrenty.

 

Not only the warranty. A TRD supercharger will ensure it's CARB legal so that I can still drive my car after 5 years. We will still have to see a CARB legal turbo.

 

Greddy and HKS will be producing their kit with carb numbers, and they will probably be out b4 the TRD supercharger

 

turbo's are more power sacrificing minimal lag (when properly sizing the housing)

superchargers are different because there are different cars but generally there is no turbo lag and you usually don't hit full boost until higher in the rpm gauge. so yes, you do hit boost immediately but you do NOT immediately hit full boost.

both setups done correctly can amount in good power.

i'm particularly fond of turbos but i will be going with a trd supercharger because i HAVE to have a warranty. I drive my car for a living and can't mess that up.

 

http://www.tuninglinx.com/html/superchargers.html

 

FUD

thats a pro-supercharger site giving an explanation. take it with a grain of salt.

their argument is that it creates too much power with a turbo LOL

 

well placed link, CELL... i wonder if the Scion tC would be affected by the uncontrollable wheel spin, as result of the high hp output... i mean... can the stock tranny even handle aoll that power... the SC is simple, but i worry that turboing will lead to stability mods which keep adding up.

 

clutch + lsd will help with wheelspin

 

One of the recent sports compact type magazine has a boosted article. The TRD supercharger is a turbine based unit on the tC, so it is more akin to a turbo then a roots or Lysholm supercharger. Read the article you will note:

Turbo vs turbine supercharger: The turbo puts out slightly more boost off idle and the boost rises much much much faster then the belt driven supercharger. The supercharger only reaches full boost at something like 5000 RPM! So NOT all superchargers put out boost low down. The best supercharger the Lysholm type are VERY expensive and while the roots will also offer instant boost its efficiency is in the toilet.

The tC is a ULEV car, there will NEVER be a forced induction kit. IMO a wait for such is a fools game. I do like the idea of a Vortech type supercharger with turbine as the efficiency is much higher, meaning more boost before the need of intercooling, but at the expense of more lag (more then a turbo), more cost, and more unit drive problems cause by the strange size of the unit.

Price, I got my ZPI kit for $2400 rated at about 250 BHP, and 6 hours to install, the TRD kit is say 200 to 220 BHP and 6 hours to install for um $3500 as the unit itself is far more expensive vs a roots setup.

ZPI is thus +90 BHP for $2400 and $300 install, release date 1.5 hours.
TRD is about +50 BHP for $3500 and a near infinite release date.

Warranty, IMO by the time you could actually buy a TRD supercharger the warranty would be over.. so the point is moot, neither setup will have a warranty.

ZPI is $30 per HP available very soon. TRD is a whopping $70.00 per HP available sometime after I’m into my next ride or two. ZPI kit is at 250 ft-lbs in all usable RPM ranges, the TRD kit will never get there in any range. The ZPI kit will be at full boost by say 2200 RPM, the TRD maybe 4000 RPM. The ZPI can take an intercooler day one, the TRD can take one too, due out a few years after never. The ZPI has a tunable Emanage, the TRD will probably be a flash from the factory so you are screwed if you go for a pulley or header etc.

Performance: guys are thinking high 14’s for the TRD kit, with OK hook, mid to high 13’s with the ZPI stage 0 with hook, maybe low 13s or even 12’s with the stage 1 and we know it will be hard to hook that kind of power FWD.

 

turbo are for those people who loves to race or drag race or for SPEED...if ur gonna use for everyday use man not gonna make any sense at all unless u drive 10 miles a day :D hehehe just kidding...but honestly TRD supercharge IMO is overpriced just like everything else they make

 

The TRD is suppose to be about 2500 which is 500 less than ZPI's offering post-preorder (I can't even start my job yet with all this studying) but I think that difference should be worth it.

Oldman, what about turbos in everyday driving?

I'm not planning on racing or anything. Its more like spirited driving... Ok, in a year or two when I get some time I actually planned to do a little autoX... But st0 I think.

 

Turbo's can have as little lag as you want.... just have to pair the right turbo with your engine. The Evo IV 16g (The model of one of the ZPI turbos), has titanium internals, and optimzed turbine design for little to no lag time. I bet a tC can see full boost by 2500 rpms, and plus it's a 16g that is in the current Evo VIII's, so you know that it's capable off supporting at least 400hp.

Does anyone know what Supercharger unit TRD is using? A Supercharger pulley swap could bump up the boost a little to make it more competitive with the turbo kits out there.

Turbo's and superchargers are both suitable for everyday driving. If you tune the turbo setup / supercharger setup correctly it will dump boost when you don't want it.... say like when you are half throttling down the neighborhood road.

In the end a turbo will make you more power, and how much power you want will determine how much turbo lag you deal with, how wide your usable power band will be, etc etc.

If you aren't the boy racer who must conquer the world in your car, and would rather have something plug and play while still being able to surprise a few cars out there, then perhaps the TRD is for you.

It all comes down to your preferences of power and speed.

 

i already ordered the stage 0 with intercooler piping with no core. i am getting the core from my cousin.

i do not think the trd supercharger is worth it imo. there is still no cold hard facts about it. it's been well over 7 months since the original release date. who knows how much longer it will take for an actual release to the general public.

you will need to the have the trd supercharger installed by the dealer to keep your warranty. if you install it yourself or by a import shop, warranty may not be covered. depending on your dealer, they might rape you on installation fees. unless, installation is included in the price of the supercharger. until then, everything is just speculations.

 

I hope the TRD numbers are underestmates