Quote Originally Posted by HiPSI
true, but up top (again depending on setup) the smaller turbos tend to choke things quite a bit so they have a super fast torque peak but higher in the revs the power falls drastically. with just the right turbo setup you can achieve a good power under the curve, but in general a well built NA car will win out on that front.
Correct, there are ways to optimize the whole setup...hell, throw two small turbos on there and you've got a ballgame. Look at Barry D's old blue car...two small turbos that spooled quickly but still pushed enough air when combined to have a decent sized and relatively flat powerband. One thing I don't see enough of in the import game (granted I'm not that familiar so I don't know if there are reason's for this) are turbo setups hooked up to automatic transmissions. The ability to spool a turbo before the launch accompanied by the torque multiplication of a higher stall converter could make for some very nasty 4cyl turbo civics.