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

[Blu-by-U]

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.

Originally Posted by Shadoq

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

Originally Posted by jamesm

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.

[Reaper]

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.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[jamesm]

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.

[Reaper]

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.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

[cdrazic93]

Originally Posted by mit_peid

FI makes a fun car more fun.

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.

[cdrazic93]

Originally Posted by Reaper

I live in a very american muscle demographic and mustangs like to pick on me. E85 and high boost solves that for me.

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

[BRZPDX]

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.

[AZFA20]

"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