Why do I like NA more than Turbo now?

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Nightmage82

Nightmage82

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ok granted, most of the threads in the rumble strip have little to do with cars, but this is still a car forum so here goes,

from quite a number of years ago until about the end of febuary this year i had always loved turbo cars. i loved rice, mods, wings, neons stickers, flames, lights all of it, u name it i loved it. (not chrome though). even in january when i thought i was going to have to buy another car on account of my old one dieing, i wanted nothing but a turbo car. i wanted a loud dump valve and i wanted to rice it out. put a sub in the back, etc.

but over the course of a few months my tastes have definitely changed to NA cars. big engines, less rice. i still love wings, neons and low profile tyres but no stickers, no civics and no nos or even ice. i have taken a liking towards american muscle cars, even though i don't know what 99% of them are called, anything with a V8 and supercharger makes me drool.

throughout my life i had loved the sound of tvr's though i didn't know they sounded so good because of their V8's. or that they even had V8's!! :D but turbo on a car instantly made it better (in my eyes). now a turbo seems like cheating/not being a REAL car...

i'm just curious if anyone else has had a similar experience and now prefers NA to turbo? or vice versa?
 
Ah yes, you've jumped ship. Good for you. I'm the same. I renounced American muscle as hillbilly nonsense. But this year I've rediscovered the magic in a rumbling V8 and two long black, smoking strips from a stoplight. In fact, I would really love to get a 2005 Mustang SVT Cobra, when they come out.
 
Basically, you've started learning about cars. At first you worshipped magazine cover models and the cars they were sitting on. Now you worship the engine inside that car (and the model). Good job.
 
There's nothing wrong with turbo as cheating. It's just like adding Borla performacne exhaust system to a Vett. Power adder so to speak....

I love turbos and it's a great way to add power to smaller displacement. It runs off of your exhaust so there is no power robbing like a supercarher.

Of course there are pros and cons between turbo, supercharge, and NA. You either have to rev it high or increase displacement in a NA motor. You have to work the internals in a force induction car to have it run relieble.

What can I say, I'm a auto enthusiast. Respect all...
 
I have appreciated the wonders of cars since I was just as tall as the front fender of my dad's '55 Chevy.
I have loved the response and sound of a well-tuned V-8 since, forever. I learned about handling from a friend that had a built Datsun 510, back in the early 80's.
Each system has its merits. My favorite sound, to this day, is still a flat-6 Porsche winding toward redline.
 
Lol @ Gil. ;)
Yeah, me too but you cant beat the sound of a good turbo whistling dixie as it goes through the gears. Pfsssst, Pfsssst is what I love when going through the gears and cant beat the intimidation factor of the sound. :drool: :lol:
Seriously though, you will get more respect with a n/a car that is very fast than one with the turbo or any type of power adder. I know as they always come up to me asking me what I have under the hood at the track. I tell them all motor and they cant believe it. Im not super fast but enough to really fool the pants off of the rice crowd, some with nitrous and some not.
Muscle cars have the best tuning advantage there is. No replacement for displacement is a sayiing, for a reason too. Its True.... :lol:
Nightmage, theres nothing wrong with your attitude changing in the tuning scene so just do what you want and be happy with what you've done to your car and enjoy it. Its a lot of fun modding a car, especially the n/a ones.
Misnblu
 
thanks for the comments guys, glad im not alone :D

as for the porsche's, i go to school in a very rich part of london and without exagerrating, every 10th car is a porsche so i get to hear them almost everyday and very few of them sound anything less than sweet :P
 
Originally posted by FuJi K
I love turbos and it's a great way to add power to smaller displacement. It runs off of your exhaust so there is no power robbing like a supercarher.
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Um, just give me a Blower with my 502 and we'll watch the wonders of 'Big Displacement' and a power adder
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A phrase my dad and I always bandy between each other is "The wrong car in the right gear will always beat the right car in the wrong gear". It seems to me that turbo cars have less "right" gears than NA cars do generally speaking (harking back to "theres no replacement for displacement" :D). My brother's Impreza RB5 is lightning fast, but needs two gear drops to pass things.

That said, my own object of desire is a Supra TT... :D
 
There is so much truth to the displacement statement. I remember back in my Miata, I always had to downshift for a rolling start, it was the only way to get the kick needed. Rotoraries are nice because they are very forgiving with downshifts if the engine is built properly. Now, with my Camaro, I have a constant kick no matter what gear I am in. It is a beautiful thing :D
 
For me I actually went the other way. For years I was a firm believer in there is replacement for displacement. 650 cid in the Z28 was proof of that.

Since I moved to New Zealand where your average "mid size car" is a chevy caviler and most all of your quicker street cars within a reasonable budget are turbo charge smaller displacement engines it has grown on me.
Grant it the maitinance is much higher than on a N/A V8 and you don't get that nice deep throaty sound none the less 400hp is 400hp and in a smaller lighter car it is even more potent.
 
I think that it should depend upon the individual engine.

However, I don't really think that it's a great idea to slam a 5 litre engine into a small car, because that engine's weight is going to adversely affect the handling, in a way which a smaller, blown engine with equivalent power would.
 
Originally posted by milefile
In fact, I would really love to get a 2005 Mustang SVT Cobra, when they come out.
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people say that ford's life is coming to an end. if they build that mustang and sell it for a reasonable price they surely can't go bust. the car looks like a dream. very similar to the 60's models whilst being totally modern.
 
ill take a old muscle car like a charger or gto over the new sporty-muscle cars of today like the zonda and whatever any time. old american muscle owns all. thats is why i plan to restore the old 475hp v8 71 duster in my garage. and ill spice the hp up to 490 with some better engine heads and stick the full pos 4:90 rear end back in. both parts are currently in the trunk;)

but how can you go wrong with a muscle car (with the exception of the 8 mpg gas guzzlin engine)?
 
Originally posted by CerberaLM
Maybe if you want to turn? ;)
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They can actually turn very well, fyi. Ive seen an early 70's Camaro Trans-Am Racer and it was fast. Turned great.

That's usually the argument, (sometimes the only argument) when someone who hates american cars, that comes up. Yeah, some cant turn very well, but there are some that can. I hate it when people use stereo types to argue with cars. It makes them look like idiots. They build some Mazda's in america, they build some Fords in England, and some Dodge's in Mexico. There is so much car racism these days. Why cant we all just get along?


[EDIT] Add on from my grandfather (who just walked in). "Cars are getting harder and harder to work on these days. There is so much technology in them. Your not called a mechanic anymore, instead your called a technition. You practically need a degree in computers to work on cars these days. I remember when all you needed was a few hours and a wrench. Today, to gain HP you need to reprogram the cpu, mess with a bunch of other parts and spend lots of money for a small gain. I remember in the old days you only needed to hit the engine with a wrench and you would instantly gain 5 HP :p...
 
Originally posted by Famine
A phrase my dad and I always bandy between each other is "The wrong car in the right gear will always beat the right car in the wrong gear". It seems to me that turbo cars have less "right" gears than NA cars do generally speaking (harking back to "theres no replacement for displacement" :D). My brother's Impreza RB5 is lightning fast, but needs two gear drops to pass things.

That said, my own object of desire is a Supra TT... :D
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I have a thing for high displacement cars. I had the most fun of my teen-age years running up the freeway in my dad's 429 SCJ Country Squire Wagon.
This car, when kicked down into second, would actually hold second (passing gear) to just over 100 MPH, before shifting back up to third.:eek: If you kept your foot in it.
In hindsight, I probably could have won a bet or two with that car.:lol:
It was always in the right gear. It also handled fairly well considering it's size, weight, and intended purpose.:lol:
There is also no sound on earth as gratifying as a Holley double-pumper as the back two barrels open up. It sounds like it'll suck the street lights off of the poles.:D
 
ah, this is true. the big engines are sweet because their powerband is WIDE and can be used everytime, no need to wait for a turbo to spool up, or to see how your roots type blower eats the top-end power of your engine. the sounds... omg, the sounds... and yeah, they are fast, altough in the top end some loose some power. they are quick!!! they accelerate like mad and wont let go. they can rev up fairly high (7000 rpm...) and they drop this in an instant... and well... if you dont want to have any problems at all, there are suspension kits for many popular muscle cars... because, lets face it... who in his/her rigth mind would let this kinda cars unmolested? come on! there are some EFI setups now that are reducing fuel consumption significantly, as there are no fuel leaks as with carbs... they are somewhat easy to install (only headache is the ECU dial-in) and make wonders for the efficiency of the car... and well, then in comes overdrive trans, that reduce fuel consumption significantly more. so, you actually can have a real first-class sports car in the body of a past glory of power. how would you like a 70 HEMI cuda that pulls 1G, has big 8 piston vented brakes, some 500hp out of an EFI hemi and pulls 15-17 mpg? and, oh yeah, you can use it everydy because it is absolutely reliable. and you will eat everything that pulls in the other lane. you like that? go to www.hotrod.com and see how this is turning more and more common. hot rods are being built to be driven, to be driven hard and outrun everything you can throw at them. they are no longer the straight line rockets they once were. the pro-street crissis (BIG rear meats, giant scoop on the hood, puke graphics, and completely impractical suspension and gear arrangements) are over. now what you want is a car that can beat any ferrari or porsche in every stance. and its very, VERY possible now. and easier than ever.

Cano
 
Originally posted by Gil
It sounds like it'll suck the street lights off of the poles.:D
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big suv's are relatively rare in london due to the fuel economy but there's a GMC yukon that goes cruising around my area every now and then. i was walking down the road and saw it waiting at the lights, the rumble from its engine was sweet. then it moved off and as the rumble increased it set off car alarms of the parked cars as it passed :D totally sweet hehe.

cano: interesting post i dont doubt that this trend will continue. its much easier to install a better suspension than change the engine, trans and exhaust system :P
 
I must say that I am starting to turn the other way, I have recently 'fallen in love' so to speak, with the MkII MR2. Mainly because it is small, MR and is turbo'd.

But I'll own a Cobra one day, Shelby Cobra that is, 427, carbied, bugger-all exhaust system. :drool:

But one time I was driving through downtown Auckland and a Holden Commodore pulled up beside us, and I swear to god it nearly gave me a heart-attack. It must've been running on headers, it was so damn loud.

He took off all normal, but once he got down to a further set of traffic lights, he gunned it, left two smoking 15ft strips of rubber on the ground, frightened a whole lot of people and set off a ****load of car alarms.

All this from an EFI 302.

But in High Octane 2, they do a road battle between an R33 GTR and a GT40. The GT40 is running a 302, and when he downchanged, :drool: GT40's have buggerall exhaust, all it does it come from where the headers would be, curl around to be equal with the carbs, then straight out the back, no muffler, cats, anything. When I hook PS2 up to my stereo and crank it up with bass on full, it just sounds so sweet.
 
Originally posted by Cobraboy
He took off all normal, but once he got down to a further set of traffic lights, he gunned it, left two smoking 15ft strips of rubber on the ground
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sweet :cool:

btw, what is high octane 2, dvd?
 
Originally posted by Nightmage82
cano: interesting post i dont doubt that this trend will continue. its much easier to install a better suspension than change the engine, trans and exhaust system :P
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I never said it would be easy. you have to change EVERYTHING on the cae to really make it perform in the league as ferraris, lambos and skylines, but its absolutely well worth it

Cano
 

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