What's better, turbocharged engine, supercharged engine or high rev engine?

Boost is necessary when it comes to cornering or even straight lines, but sometimes, people argue if it really is necessary. And from there on, another argument pops out- what kind of boost should you get? Well, the answer is simple, but before I get to that, I must tell you the advantages and disadvantages of each one.

1. Turbocharger

What you see here is Chevrolet Corvette C5 turbocharger. Turbocharger is probably the most powerful (legal) boost that you can get, but all that power has drawbacks. Each turbocharger has something called lag- it's the time gap that it takes for the turbo to activate completely after switching the gear. The bigger the turbo- the bigger the lag. Take Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution FQ-400 for example. From what I've heard and read, it's turbo does somewhere about 30-35 psi. Yes, it's amazing and it's crazy. But there's one drawback- the lag is horrible on that car. If you race it against a manual corolla going downhill with just pressing the clutch at 20 roll, it will take about 15-25 seconds for the turbo to activate and guess what- there won't be enough room to actually pass the corolla. If you want a turbocharger for corners, make sure it doesn't have a big lag, but it won't have much boost either.

2. Supercharger

If you're looking for something without lag, then supercharger is what you need. Unlike the turbocharger, supercharger doesn't have lag, but just like every pill or every boost, it has side effects. One of them is noise. It makes a horrible screaming noise that might annoy the living crap out of people, where as turbocharger doesn't. Second drawback is that it doesn't have much boost power either. Unlike the turbocharger, which is exhaust driven, the supercharger is belt drive. That way, you get instant boost, but, at the same time, you loose about 10-20% since the engine has to pull a heavier pulley.

3 High-rev engines

What you see here is 1999 Honda S2000. Why do you think I used this car? Well, the answer is simple. It has a 2 liter 4 cylinder engine that has a redline of 9000 revolutions per minute. 2004 models had a redline of 8000 rpm. So why do you think it has less? It's true, high rev engines are extremely responsive, and that exactly where the problem comes from. Because of it's high-revving nature, low torque is created. Why do you think BMW M3 is not so successful? It's really stupid of M-Sports to make a giant 8 cylinder 420 hp engine that doesn't have any boost to it. A Giant V8 without any boost is like a soccer player without cleats. It might seem as if it's more powerful on the paper against other cars, but when you take it to the track against STi or Evos, the M3 doesn't stand a chance against them, because it doesn't have enough torque to push it out of the corner fast enough, and even if it develops that torque, it might not be able to execute all of it properly, because it's heavy. But does it have to be a no boost high rev engine? No! As long as it can go up to 8000rpm or more and get there with ease, it's a high rev engine. Yes there are turbocharged high rev engines and yes there are supercharged high rev engines.


Ratings:
               Boost               Responsiveness               Lag                     Torque          HP(Boost)

 

Turbo         5/5                         NA                     Horrible                  75+ lbs           50+ HP


S-Charger   3/5                         NA                      None                     50- lbs           50- HP


High Rev     NA                      Excellent                     NA                     medium         depends


Stock         NA                         Poor                        NA                    very low           low


      
Conclusion: To get the best performance out of a car, it's always better to get something that you think is right. I personally like when it's all 3 in 1. When supercharger and turbocharger are combined together, you get instant boost with a lot of power, and when they are installed on a high rev engines, you'll also get exceptional responsiveness without losing much torque since you already have a double boost on your car. What else do you need really?