Turbocharging is taking over the automotive industry with everything from cheap economy cars all the way to exotic supercars sporting a set of turbos. That's because they can add power to an engine, while increasing efficiency. However, one of the downsides is that turbocharged engines don't sound quite as good as normally aspirated ones. We've seen that some manufacturers, mainly Mercedes, have found ways to overcome the sound issue. With that in mind, we've chosen our top five cars that should switch to turbocharging.
The Audi R8 is a controversial choice because it has one of the best sounding naturally aspirated engines in the business. The R8's 5.2-liter V10 is shared with the Lamborghini Huracan, and produces a healthy 610 hp in its most powerful form. Audi has talked about turbocharging the R8 before, and is close to revealing a new model with a Porsche-developed V6. Although we agree that the R8 should switch to turbocharging, we'd like to see Audi keep the R8 V10 as the top dog, with the new turbocharged V6 model slotting in as a lower model.
The Corvette Z06 comes with a 6.2-liter supercharged V8, which produces a massive 650 hp. The Z06 is not normally aspirated like the other cars on this list, but it does have a major reason to switch to turbocharging. Chevy has dealt with lawsuits because the Z06 overheats on track. Supercharged engines are notoriously difficult to cool, and the Corvette has a very small front opening to suck in air from. Chevy has fixed the cooling issue on the Camaro ZL1, but we think that using turbochargers on the Z06 would be a good way to reduce the heat soak. We will have to see what happens with the upcoming ZR-1 Corvette and the rumored C8.
The Lexus RC F and GS F share a high-revving 5.0-liter V8. We love the way these cars sound, but Lexus is rumored to be working on a twin-turbocharged replacement that brings power up to 600 hp. The RC F and GS F do sound fantastic, but if Lexus can figure out how to make a twin-turbo V8 that sounds as good as the current engine, we would be ecstatic. The current 5.0-liter unit loves to rev, but lacks usable torque down low in the rev range. Adding turbocharging would make these cars a heck of a lot faster, and help them compete against their German rivals.
Even though it has been on the market since 2008, Nissan has not announced any plans to replace the 370Z sports car. The 370Z is powered by a naturally aspirated 3.7-liter VQ V6 with 332 hp (350 in Nismo Trim). This engine is extremely dated, and should be replaced with something turbocharged. The Nissan Z car has had a history of being turbocharged in the Z32 300Z generation back in the 1990s. Nissan went back to normally aspirated engines when the 350Z was introduced, but we think now is the perfect time to resurrect a twin-turbo Z car.
The 5.2-liter Voodoo unit in the Shelby GT350 is one of our favorite engines on the market today. Like our R8 choice, we do not want to see this wonderful engine get replaced. Instead, we'd like to see Ford sell two different Shelby Mustangs. Not everyone was happy about Ford switching to a high-revving flat-plane crank V8 in the new GT350, preferring the old GT500 with its large supercharger and straight line speed instead. We'd love to see a new GT500 with a twin-turbo version of the Voodoo V8, or even a modified version of the Ford GT's EcoBoost V6, hopefully with an insane amount of power.