How does FI change the 86's "character"?
 

I apologize if this has been covered already. I didn't find anything in my searches. Then again, my Googlefu is lacking...

So, I currently own a completely stock 6MT BRZ. I've got a hair over 4k on the clock and I'm feeling the itch for more torque and speed.

I've researched a bit and it seems a turbo kit is a potential solution.

However I've heard through a couple grapevines that adding a turbo kit to the BRZ changes it's "driving character".

Can anyone out there with a turbo kit explain this to me?
Would a supercharger be a better solution?

Or would the NA tune and bolt ons be enough to "feel" a difference?

I'm not an AutoX warrior, I'd just like a little more giddyup especially after test driving the 2015 WRX with it's Turboed 2.0.

Thanks

When I went FI the first month I could feel the front being heavier instantly but after a while you get comfortable with the car again and forget that feeling. Now it feels like the same balance before with more power. Anything from 250-300 should be more then enough giddy up to feel like the new wrx.

gtx2867r if you turbo. lots of torque. feels good. Almost feels like a baby supra on e85

What if you corner balanced the car after? Maybe retain more of the original feel?

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It changes the character of the car in the sense that it makes it legitimately fast, and you have to be more careful with it. It basically does the same thing to the power delivery that good sticky tires do to the handling. It takes it from 'fun' (a nice way of saying slow but reasonably entertaining) to actually being a serious performance car, and of course that changes the way it feels and reacts to inputs.

Bolt ons will make a bit of power, but they're not going to make the car seriously fast. They're noticeable, but it's not night and day. With a tune the pick up a bit more and it becomes better, but it's still a pretty slow car by today's standards with ~190-200whp.

I think a twin screw would probably keep the car closest to it's original character - both in throttle response and power.

That said, the turbo does change it.. but not necessarily for the worse. It turns the car into a beast! The biggest thing for me, is when it was stock - I could drive the car really hard on the streets and not really worry too much about breaking too many laws. Now, with the turbo, if I push the car even half as hard I am already doing 3x any speed limit and loud enough for police to hear me a mile away. So, in some ways.. it almost isn't as fun since you can't really drive the car as hard as often (have to go to a track to really appreciate it). But, at the same time, you don't have to..

What's that saying?
"It's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow." or something like that.

Supercharged here.

The front of the car is a little bit heavier but that's only something you're going to notice the first day or so. The car still feels incredibly agile and I have since forgotten how it 'used to feel' (it was a year ago since I made the switch).

Power wise, it makes a huge difference!

Before, I could floor it.... have fun and still be fine in terms of speed. (~100km/h?)

Now, if you floor it... you need to lift off the gas after a few seconds because you're going too fast! (~150km/h... and climbing quickly)

I personally think it's a lot more fun :)

Real life situation:

Stock:
Imagine merging onto the highway. Right now, you're on the on-ramp in 3rd gear... redline it and dump it into 4th as you enter the highway. You'll be going around 120km/h or so.

Supercharged:
I take the same on-ramp in 3rd but by the time I'm on the highway I can easily be doing 160km/h... and on my way to 200km/h. (Which I don't do because it's dangerous.)

This should give you an idea of the different driving experience with forced induction vs stock.

Last, but certainly not least, it's nice to know that you can now match luxury cars on the road. You see an Audi a4? You see a Mercedes C300? You see a BMW 323i?

You know you can hold your own ground.

Just went supercharged. Haven't been to a dyno yet and all dynos read different but I'd say I'm at approximately 250whp. I'm happy and not at the same time. Happy because as a lot of people have said, the car should have came with this power from the factory and it feels nice. But also not because it sucks to have to upgrade the car to make it as it should have been instead of getting more if that makes sense. Overall though, I am really happy with the added power. For daily driving and little spurts of fun every now and again, the 250-300 range seems to be perfect. I can't wait to get my E85 map to see how it feels then.

FI makes a fun car more fun.

That would work also I assume. I had the car corner balanced when NA have not done it since FI but I'm sure I will soon enough

I have to make damn sure my car isn't pointed at anything immoveable when the turbo starts to spool.

It would mitigate the handling difference to some degree, but the power delivery of a Turbo car is completely different from a NA car, and will never feel similar/close.

Boost is awesome. Find someone nearby with it and go drive. You'll love it.

I've given a ride too a few ppl and in no time they went and boosted there frs/brz. It's a blast to drive! Just like a new car you will learn how to handle the car and it's new found power :)

Not everyone lives a quarter mile at a time. Some just want to come out of a corner with a little more pickup before that next corner. For me, NA changes seem to be adequate for what I'm after, FI seems like overkill. Not talking about racing, autox or anything of sort, just driving fast on curvy roads. First question should be what do you expect your drive to be like? Well balanced and fun on curvy roads or flat out scary fast down a straight line.

At 450whp there are super tight 2nd gear curvy roads on my way to work through the deep mountain woods I wont even drive anymore. I could turn the boost down and make the car more streetable but I live in a very american muscle demographic and mustangs like to pick on me. E85 and high boost solves that for me. Well that and mercilously spinning 3rd on the highway is pretty intoxicating sometimes as well. At least I have options with a turbo.

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These things are not mutually exclusive with a turbo. I have anywhere from 300(less if I wanted it) to over 400whp on tap at the flick of a switch. It can be as tame or as brutal as you want it to be. It's not like the steering wheel quits working at a certain power level. You just dial the power to what is appropriate for the situation. That's the beauty of it.

Exactly. That's why the last sentence in my post was at least I have options. I guess I could have elaborated on that part more.

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After spending money turning a light car into a light car with some horsepower behind it, I seriously reccomend going to HPDE days at your local track.

Nothing is more dangerous than a person with more horsepower than brain power.

note to mustang drivers; if the car has a go pro on it, dont pick on him :thumbsup:

297whp/225tq custom local kit.

To me it feels a lot slower than it really is. Perhaps because of this set up, the power delivery is very smooth. I don't stare at my speedometer, but it gets to 90mph, much much quicker. Not a torque bomb kind of feel.

Low end, pre-boost power feels great as well for DD, probably due to the high compression engine, it doesn't suffer too much out of boost. I really like that.

I'm more careful with my car now, and paying attention to everything more closely. There is always a "what if" on your mind, I don't like that part. This car is half DD, and since I enjoy driving this car so much, I end up driving it majority of the time. Hence the conservative boost of 8.5psi intercooled currently.

Been boosted for 5 months, and I already want more power though. Very easy to get in to this vicious cycle. Temperatures are good street driving/spirited back roads, but most concerned about the rear axles at this point.

"Forced induction" is pretty broad in terms of how it can change a car in general. I personally have now had a couple different forced induction styles on mine and have driven/ridden in many others (86s but the same can be said for ANY vehicle). I can confidently say none of them have really been the same in terms of feeling other than all of them are faster than stock. It really depends which FI route you go and then what you do with that FI choice. To complicate it further it depends on what else is done besides FI. I just recently put yet another FI option on mine and once again the car is a different car so my driving has to adjust.

What I can tell you though is that once you add boost to the 86 equation you will have a hard time EVER trying to convince yourself you were better off without it haha :burnrubber: