It seems to me that the MINI Cooper S is pretty unique in having an actual belt-driven supercharger. Turbochargers seem to be a dime a dozen these days, but superchargers have got to be pretty rare.

Are there any other cars currently being made with factory blowers?

What other cars historically came with superchargers? I know there were some "blower Bentleys" back in - what? - the 40s? Did any of the Duesenbergs or Cords have blowers? Any others?

 

I had a lovely VW Corrado with a G60 supercharger..


It was quite nice..

great highway cruiser.. a bit heavy.. and the shift linkage was crap.. but it was nice...

 

arent MB AMG line SC as well??

 

Pontiac Bonneville SSEI and Grand Prix GTP are both supercharged, as well as Ford F150 Harley Davidson edition and Lightning. Also there is the Buick Riviera. Some others...just can't think of them

 

All MB "kompressor" cars are SC

 

I always thought and still do think that superchargers are better than turbos. I had a '01 SVT Lightning, and the whine on that thing was sweet.
There's a few manufacturers that still use them. Ford has them on the Harley D. truck as well as the SVT Lightning, and Cobra. Pontiac has their GTP and Bonneville....like already mentioned. Nissan has one on their XTerra, and Frontier. Toyota offers them through their TRD line, and they come with warranty on parts and won't effect vehicle's warranty. Mercedes has a few vehicles with them. Some Jags have them as well.
Cheers,

 

The Chevy Monte Carlo SS has a supercharged V6.

Mark

 

Toyota is trying to emulate the MINI with the Scion xA and TC - xA looks "similar" from the back, and the TC comes with 160HP stock, but can have a TRD supercharger package bringing it up to 200hp (can you say JCW ripoff?)

 

Buick Regal, Pontiac GP, Buick Park Ave, Pontiac Bonneville, Pontiac Vibe/Toyota Matrix (dealer installed) come to mind... Tho I think the advances in turbos make it possible to get minimal lag and maximal power- with only a small hit on fuel econ.

 

I read somewhere on the net that car manufacturers are moving towards low pressure turbos because they have little to no lag. Fuel economy and especially emissions tend to be better with turbos. Just ask SAAB. Our SAAB has 210lb/ft of torque at an amazingly low 1800 rpms. I kid you not. Also it easily meets Ultra II Low emission standards. We get 36MPG on the highway in a car that weighs in at a hefty 3600lbs. The enigine is a 2.3l. There is a down side though. The SAAB does not idle well. (We need a thumbs down emoticon!)

Their must be something to the article I read (I'll try and find it). If SAAB can reach numbers like that then why does the MCS only get 32 on the highway and NOT meet Ultra II emission standards (not real sure about this...)?

Everyone seems to be against the turbo. I cautiously look forward to it. I read on Motoring File that it might be a dual stage turbo. Not sure what that means. Any way before this gets too long, If they can make a MCS engine that gets better gas mileage, better emissions and has the same or better low end torque, than I'm sold. Unless of course they get rid of the one piece bonnet... ...

 

Not true. The kompressor designation of MB's refers to the vehicle size, not it's aspiration.

 

No, KOMPRESSOR does refer to the engine being supercharged! The C230 Kompressor C sedan is EXACTLY the same vehicle size as the C240 C sedan with a V6 (which by the way has 21 less HP).

 

You beat me to it. All the Kompressor models are s/c.

 

I thought I read that the MB Kompressor's were going to be dropped in favor of turbo's. Maybe I should be more careful what I read? I can't seem to ever remember where I read something...

 

Here I found this. Kind of backs up what I read before.

http://www.hotbimmer.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11122

 

"we have virtually no turbo lag any more."

LOL, I think every car company who sells a turbocharged car has said that, starting with the 1976 Porsche 911 Turbo.

 

I agree, the SAAB as great as it is, still has a noticable amount of lag. Of course the turbo is not one of the newer ones. Has anyone driven one of the new ones?

 

I've driven several VW/Audi products with turbos, including the incredibly tiny, fast-spooling k03. There's still lag. It's not really a big deal since you learn to deal with that facet of the engine performance, but I doubt any knowledgable automotive enthusiast could mistake even the latest and most "civilized" turbos for naturally-aspirated.

 

Would you say it's difficult to do some serious canyon driving? That seems to be most people's main concern.

 

Not at all. It's sort of like keeping a highly tuned motor "on cam". You anticipate the shape and timing of the torque curve, and plan accordingly with your hands and feet. :smile:

I wouldn't mind having a turbocharger, although the instant boost of the supercharger has become fairly addictive.

 

Hey, thanks to everyone who posted to this thread. I had no idea there were so many supercharged (as opposed to turbocharged) cars in production nowadays! Very educational! (I haven't been a "car nut" since I sold my MGA Coupe about 20 years ago. Can't wait till my MINI gets here!)

On the subject of turbo lag: I read the "Yo-Yo Chronicles" thread from one end to the other and am very interested in experimenting with the zip tie mod. If it's easy enough (I have very long thin fingers and good coordination), I'm thinking I could see myself tying the bypass valve shut (or is it opened? - whatever) on weekends just for fun. Apparently everyone who has tried it has noticed a dramatic difference in responsiveness. To me, that's what the MINI is all about - responsiveness. Point-and-shoot. If even that tiny fraction of a second it takes for the bypass valve to do its thing is noticeable, how much worse would a turbo be?

But it don't matter - I got my MCS already. (Almost.)

 

We have a Saab 9-5 Arc (V6) turbo and, yes, the turbo comes on pretty early and it doesn't have that typical sort of turbo feel where it comes on like crazy at a certain rpm. It just feels like it has a bigger engine than it does. I had a Porsche 944 Turbo long ago and that had a very turbo feel to it. It actually felt rather slow until about 3500 or 4000 rpm and then, after that, it was totally different.

Mark

 

Saab's turbo V6 is one of the craziest designs I've ever seen. It has only one turbo on only one of the exhaust manifolds. The other side of the engine has a regular exhaust manifold flowing out to the exhaust. The compressed air goes into both cylinder banks though. Weird, eh?

 

Yes, it's very strange! But then Saab has a long history of being different. I'm glad at least some of that has survived the GM takeover.

Mark

 

Some other cars:

Jaguar XKR
Thunderbird SC
Mazda Millenia S
Toyota MR2