New Car

[The Dogfather]

How many people saying supercharged have actually driven the turbo over a decent distance?

Having driven both, other than in noise the turbo car is far superior

[Burple]

How many people saying supercharged have actually driven the turbo over a decent distance?

Having driven both, other than in noise the turbo car is far superior

And get an induction kit on the turbo one.. then you won't be complaining about lack of noise!

[GCA3N]

How many people saying supercharged have actually driven the turbo over a decent distance?

Having driven both, other than in noise the turbo car is far superior

[Mon the fish]

How many people saying supercharged have actually driven the turbo over a decent distance?

Having driven both, other than in noise the turbo car is far superior

Harry Fairbairn gave me one for half a day, as I was thinking of changing. I took it down my favourite road (the B769), and the turbo lag (admittedly small, but noticeable) annoyed me, and it just felt bigger and softer, less chuckable. More refined, yes, but I wanted it to be a bit more hardcore

[The Dogfather]

Turbo lag? What turbo lag?

They must have given you a duff one.

[ianking]

Put the sport button on and it sharpens up the throttle and there is almost no lag with it on

[AndyP & Lenore]

Turbo lag? What turbo lag?

They must have given you a duff one.

What he said.

After 3 years of driving ours, I've never seen any turbo lag.

A.

[stoney]

i have driven one and i did like it a lot but i love the super charger and the way the R53 felt more direct

[Mon the fish]

Put the sport button on and it sharpens up the throttle and there is almost no lag with it on

'Almost' is the key word there. The R56 has the least lag of any turbo car I've driven, and I'm being super-pernickety, but it was there. Goodness knows why I'm trading 10mpg for less lag though...

[ELFMAN]

Turbo Lag? NO WAY. Certainly not with the 'Sport' button on - it's got enough torque to pull the QE2! With the Sport off, the response is 'muted', but still not what you'd call properly 'laggy'. (anyone tried Turbo cars in the 80's?). I LOVED my old JCW 210, the noise and the whine when it was on full song were a wonder to behold, and the R53, as Stoney said, is more 'direct' and somehow just that wee bit more driver-focussed.

Remember that the Supercharger is driven directly from the engine whereas the Turbo is driven by exhaust gasses and will always have to 'spool up', so the supercharger maybe seems to give a more 'instant' hit, but it also saps a bit of power while its doing it. The turbo and timing technology on the R56 is so clever - it's light years ahead of the old engine - that it's VERY hard to notice any difference on the road - my R56 picks up instantly and goes every bit as hard as the old car. The JCW maybe had a bit more top-end, but it was running a playmini manifold and a few other bits which helped.

The R56 S has oodles of grunt straight out of the box, much more than the standard R53 ever had, and with the tuning kit, mine is subjectively just as quick as my JCW 210. The torque of the turbo gives you fantastic flexibility in all sorts of situations and while it sounds a bit boring, the fact that you can use all of that performance and still get mid-30's to the gallon (and easy 45+ when driving 'normally') is quite a big bonus, especially on a long run. When using all the performance on my old car, I would often see very low 20's or below if I was being especially naughty. For sheer driving enjoyment with the 'charger screaming away and the exhaust blaring, a modified R53 is very hard to beat, but with a few tweaks here and there on the R56, I reckon you can recapture the best points of the R53 and maintain all of the benefits of the later car.

I had my R53 JCW 210 for 5 years, and I've had the R56 for nearly a year and a half. Each car has its plus and minus points, the R53 probably takes the 'Driver's Car' crown, but for all-round ability I have to say I think the R56 JUST shades it.