Turbochargers vs. Superchargers

Friedhain am Meer, Hetvesia, 2001

Wolfgang Kluwe is looking for a new ride, and visits a local car dealer.

Mr. Kluwe, natural aspirated engines are a leftover of the 20th century. Look at these two examples. A brand new Cavaliere Nobile Freccia 420T integrale. 230 horsepower, more than 100 per liter in a regular sedan. AWD, alcantara and carbon interior, a masterpiece from Frunia.

I don´t want an overly fancy thing, I need a reliable and economical one.

Primus has a new base engine for the facelifted Legacy. Such a large ride, yet a ridiculously low consumption. 164 horsepower and adequate performance, from just 1.8 liter. The secret? A supercharger.

Impressive, but this one is hardly exciting, and that brand isn´t known for low prices… I have 30.000 to spend.

Ummm, the Primus is 29.600 with automatic, sunroof and wood trim… otherwise slightly frugal. The Cavaliere with all options included is 28.400, but of course a lot smaller.

Yes, might be a bit tight in the interior in family use, and I do not trust the reliability, what are the alternatives?

BRIEF IN SHORT: OFFER WOLFGANG A SEDAN OR WAGON WITH EITHER TURBOCHARGER OR SUPERCHARGER

High priority

  • Design, Wolfgang is a self-employed computer salesman, the car needs to look the part
  • Economy and service cost, the car is his tool to earn money
  • Reliability, a broken down car is a disgrace for someone earning money with being on time at appointment

Medium Priority

  • Comfort, he tends to drive a lot and wants to arrive relaxed at his customers offices
  • Performance, on unlimited highways, some vroom vroom is a good thing.
  • Safety - he has family and wants not to die out there doing vroom vroom.

Low Priority

  • Sportiness, Wolfgang might use a twisty country road to bypass a traffic jam on the highway.
  • Practicality, it should serve as a family car, too, although Wolfgangs wife has an own car.
  • Prestige, an overly low prestige might let his customers think that he isn´t good at his job.
  • Purchase price, Wolfgang is not afraid to use up his budget, but will prefer the cheaper car if it offers the same value over another.

RULES

  • Al Rilma game version
  • Trim and Variant year 2001
  • Must pass WES 9
  • Maximum price 30.000
  • fuel: 95 RON
  • Techpool: 50 Million total cost
  • sedan, liftback or wagon (4 or 5 doors)
  • Interiors encouraged, but not mandatory
  • General realism (no cross-ply tires, converter required, etc)
  • Cars need complete fixtures (headlights, wipers, fuel cap, indicators,…)
    NAMING: “TvS-(your forum username)” for model and family

TIMETABLE

Submissions are open until 07.05. 2025, 10:00 GMT+1

INSPIRATIONS

Mercedes E200 Kompressor

Mercedes C230 T Kompressor

Audi A4 1.8T

Renault Laguna Grandtour 2.0 Turbo

Buick Park Avenue Ultra Supercharged

VW Passat 1.8T

Saab 9-5 Turbo

Volvo S60 Turbo

Subaru Legacy Wagon Turbo

4 Likes

OH FRICK YES!!! FINALLY!!!

I’m thinking Supercharged Small block V8…

Mind if I ask what part the car needs to look, in particular?

Are we looking for something relatively sensible that conveys an air of class, something that just gets you in the door without too much hassle?
Or are we looking for something big and showy, an authoritative statement that this guy has made it and you’d be wrong not to buy from him, a big bright light to dazzle any prospective buyer?

Prestige being low implies the former, but I do just wanna check.

Well, I don´t think that bigger is always better, in size: Both a C and E class Benz could both work, I added some inspirations.

How do you get negative weather resistance to replicate this?

3 Likes

This is the first time I’ve seen any challenge requiring the use of the al-Rilma open alpha - and with a requirement for some sort of forced induction (turbocharging or supercharging, depending on which works best for you), to boot.

1 Like

Are supercharger service costs and extra weight currently implemented in Al-Rilma? I can picture super’d cars absolutely dominating this challenge because of this if not.

yes, users of the Al Rilma are totally excluded at the moment from any challenge, so I wanted to change that.

They are propably not to a satisfying extent, so this is why I picked 2001: Turbos are very good at this point, and the supercharger doesn´t have it too easy to be superior. Lets say I had done a challenge in the late 70s, then the available turbo options and costly injection systems would have favorized the supercharger.

2 Likes

Thanks for that! Since I joined these forums (I already was on Al-Rilma) I have not been able to enter any contests. Now I can!

Added more inspirations, with two being non-european since that would be legit too.

If I were on Al-Rilma, I’d probably troll in this challenge.

“Supercharger? Turbocharger? Why not Both!?”

Luckily, I’m not, but I’ll gladly stand by and witness the chaos.

Hm, yes, I should be more precise that I want either superchargers OR turbochargers and no twinchargers…

1 Like

It wouldn’t be too unrealistic, VW did it with the 1.4 TSI less than a decade later.

1 Like

Lancia did it with the S4 a decade earlier too

2 Likes

Also you may want to think about giving us a mandatory car and engine family filename - unless I just missed it somehow

1 Like

oh hey a challenge in Al Rilma! definitely gonna enter this

1 Like

“TvS-(your forum username)” for model and family would make sense.

and Nissan in 1988 in a Micra/March :rofl:

1 Like

I was thinking the model and trim name is yours to use, but you need your username somewhere in the trim name.

How do I check the tech pool total cost? I’ve never cared about that before this lol.