You don’t need to be a rocket genius, or even a regular genius to know that the future of OEM engines is about small displacement and boost. There are major manufacturing companies lining up on both sides of the boost delivery market and each are highly motivated to see their side succeed. It appears that we’re seeing OEMs pick their sides as well.
Ford has obviously thrown a lot of dough behind their turbocharged Ecoboost series of engines, which they have plans to expand (ironically “expanding” in this case means to build ever smaller displacement Ecoboost engines). General Motors has bolted superchargers to LS engines to create the monsterous ZR1 Corvette, CTS-V, and supposedly an ultra high performance Camaro in the future.
Companies like Borg Warner are already seeing major increases in their quarterly profits from increased turbocharger sales and are sending out optimistic press releases stating that the use of turbos in OEM cars will expand 80% or more in the next 10 years. Meanwhile, Eaton, the most major manufacturer of superchargers used by OEMs has inked a deal to provide their units to VW and they are on a PR campaign of their own to “educate” the world to the benefits of superchargers over turbos for increases in performance and economy.
So what say you? Who will win this horsepower/economy arm wrestling match? Will it be the belt driven blowers or exhaust driven turbos? Is it all just PR fluff? Will there be a mix of both or will one ultimately reign supreme?
I think Motown as a whole will lean towards the turbo route.
oem’s originally tried turbos, but ran into dependability issues and turbo lag. they switched tosuperchargers because of the absents of turbo lag, which gave them instant response that the general public would find more useful in daily driving. however, superchargers use power to make power. in the search to be more efficient and get better and better gas milage, the turbo will become the leading power adder as technology eliminates, or at least, greatly reduce turbo lag to the point in will no longer be a factor. furthermore, dependability has been addressed as well. just look at the ford eco boost six. a ford maechanic friend of mine says they never see them in the shop. smart oems will return to turbos.
Neither . If the powers that be ( US Government ) have any say in it we’ll all be stuck driving POS Hybrids and E/V’s .
Can you all say ; BORING
Assuming of course we let the powers that be have their way . Hint Hint !
Sorry, but I’m not into the rat rod stuff. A rod in primer is one thing. Throwing a pile of dogsh*t together and calling it a hot rod is something different. Also, I don’t need to pay for something I really don’t want to read. Yes, I read more than the captions.
Last issue I got there was a cool article on Linda but oher than that I haven’t been that impressed with the magazine in the past year.
As for Car Crap and (un)Popular Hot Rodding, I haven’t seen an issue of them in about 7 years,let alone buy one. They are a far cry of what they once were in the ’60’s and ’70’s.
I get Drag Racer, Drag Racing Action ,and Area Auto Racing News by subscription. The rest,including National Dragster, I dropped. They only end up in the recycling can anyway. Christ, if I saved every issue of every car rag that came out, my house would look like one of those places on that “Hoarders” show. Grin
If I see an issue with alot of cool stuff on the stands I’ll buy it. I just am not into all the stuff they do.
I will definitely check out this new magazine and if it is good I will buy it. And not New Car Review, when will you get it, it sucks.
I think Variable Vane turbos and variable valve timing will be difficult to beat for economy and power.
What’s up with Nick?
Looks like he’s a little low on the Fahrvergn??gen.