It can turn into a very heated, interesting, intense, and confusing discussion between enthusiasts. Which form of engine provides the best driving experience? Naturally Aspirated, Turbocharged, or Supercharged?
So, let’s brush up on what these terms mean. A naturally aspirated engine means that the engine itself powers the car, there is nothing else helping the engine.
Turbocharging and supercharging are different forms of forced induction, which means the act of forcefully shoving more air into the engine and ensuring that colder and denser air goes into the engine, which helps it produce more power. Turbocharging uses exhaust gases to spin itself and pump that air after cooling it into the engine, whereas supercharger is driven by the engine through a belt or a pulley system. To know more about turbochargers and superchargers, look around my website. I have written about them in great detail.
So, if you ask the majority or purists and red-blooded enthusiasts, they will say that a naturally aspirated engine will give you the best experience. It’s because it is responsive, revs out really well, responds immediately to throttle input, sounds really good, and is the most characterful. Also, it’s linear, and predictable, which helps you modulate it precisely according to what you want. However, that doesn’t automatically mean that turbocharged and supercharged engines are bad. It’s just that you get a different experience. It all depends on what you want. Turbochargers can give you two different experiences-1. You get very linear, predictable power delivery like a naturally aspirated engine (close, but not the same), and good low end response and immediate throttle response, or 2. You get a lot of turbo lag, which can be fun, because there is nothing before the boost kicks in at low revs, and then all of a sudden, you get a big shove of power once you cross a certain rpm range, once boost kicks in, and the turbo delivers its power in a very dramatic, explosive fashion. That can be entertaining, sort of the “silence before the storm”. Superchargers give you a naturally-aspirated experience, just more intense, louder, and angrier. You get even more torque, much more immediate response, and the engine produces more power and sounds angrier as you redline it and rev it out. Turbochargers have a whistling sound to them, and superchargers have a distinct whine.
So, in the end, it all depends on what you want from a car. If you want a traditional turbocharged “silence before the storm” experience, get a turbocharged car. If you want a naturally aspirated experience, but more intense (more like naturally aspirated pro max or NA+), go for supercharging. I suggest that don’t try to make a turbocharged setup behave like a naturally aspirated engine and don’t try to make it linear, because that will ruin the turbo experience and it won’t give you the fully naturally aspirated experience. Do it only if you are using the car for competitions (like actual racing), where numbers matter. If you want a good driving experience, then don’t do it. Speaking of NOS, I think that it won’t be that reliable, so it’s best to use it on project cars only, and for drag racing. Some things are best if kept for the “Fast and Furious” franchise.
