Practical to add turbo?

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joshier
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Practical to add turbo?

Post by joshier »

If I were to say, buy a really cheap car - 1 litre, say a citroen saxo and pop in a turbo/something to make it go faster, would it be practical?

I ask because I'm all for a small car, but if I need the extra revs for taking over, I'd like to be able to have them.

I suppose I want the perfect mix of a small economical engine and having the ability to waste much more fuel (that is, use more fuel in a short space of time) to use it when I need it - instead of buying a bigger car like a 1.4/1.6 and using that big engine all the time (thus wasting fuel).

Thanks
Toby_HDi
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Post by Toby_HDi »

Its not as simple as that. You can't just bolt a turbo on, you would need a whole new exhaust manifold, all the associated air piping, oil feeds etc

Anyway a turbo will not 'give you extra revs' it'll just mean it spins up to the limiter more readily.

If you want a mix of economy and performance then get a diesel. Many on here will tell you of the benefits of the 1.9 TD and the 2.1 TD diesel XUD's.

Personally I have a Xantia HDi 110 and that provides effortless overtaking if that is what your after. Torque is your friend and a diesel has more than a petrol of an equivalant size. The HDi I have is a 2.0 and on a long motorway run I've seen 60mpg from it. Not only that, say you go for a Xantia or similar you would also get the comfort of a bigger car.

Adding a turbo can be done but its a lot of money and effort and will cost you more than buying a car outright that'll do what your after.
joshier
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Post by joshier »

Toby_HDi wrote:Its not as simple as that. You can't just bolt a turbo on, you would need a whole new exhaust manifold, all the associated air piping, oil feeds etc

Anyway a turbo will not 'give you extra revs' it'll just mean it spins up to the limiter more readily.

If you want a mix of economy and performance then get a diesel. Many on here will tell you of the benefits of the 1.9 TD and the 2.1 TD diesel XUD's.

Personally I have a Xantia HDi 110 and that provides effortless overtaking if that is what your after. Torque is your friend and a diesel has more than a petrol of an equivalant size. The HDi I have is a 2.0 and on a long motorway run I've seen 60mpg from it. Not only that, say you go for a Xantia or similar you would also get the comfort of a bigger car.

Adding a turbo can be done but its a lot of money and effort and will cost you more than buying a car outright that'll do what your after.
I'm afraid I'm 21 (1 year no claims bonus) and anything bigger than 1.4 litre I get high insurance (or what it seems like anyway)

Thanks for the reply, do you think there's any other fast-ish small cars with good mpg?
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Post by Toby_HDi »

Are you shopping around properly?

I'm 21 next month and I have a Xantia 2.0 HDi. Though I've not claimed or had any convictions.

It all depends how much money you have to spend. There are fuel effcient small cars out there that are fun to drive.

There are many options available to you, it just depends on many factors with money being the main one. You just need to look at what suits you and what you can afford.
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Post by addo »

If you can use it sparingly (and by no means every day), nitrous might be an option. It'd mess up your insurance, I'm sure!

Otherwise - what about a Jap bike? Good power to weight ratio and nice top speed!
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Post by XantiaMan »

Is insurance really that expensive now? I was driving a 2 litre turbocharged car when i was 19 and that was about a grand a year.

Your best bet is to shop around as mentioned, or find the fastest 1.4 car possible! The fastest and cheapest to insure is a Rover Metro 1.4 SI, that will do 0-60 in around 9 seconds and keep up with Saxo VTR's and quite a few 2 litre cars 8)

Downside they rust like hell and are small. Dirt bloody cheap to run though and loads of fun.
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Post by myglaren »

While waiting for Red-Dwarfer's insight on this, My daughter went from a crap Mini Clubman (old M-reg) to a Saab 2L 16valve Turbo-S Aero and paid less insurance than the mini - around £450. That thing was like a rocket and used fuel in the same sort of quantities as a space shuttle but could be economical if a heap of restraint was applied.
She currently has a 106 and deeply regrets parting with the Saab, insurance is a bit cheaper but in no way compensates, she's looking for another Saab right now! (No, I can't talk her into a Citroen):(

My son has a 306 1.9 D-Turbo that whizzes around quite nicely, solid and comfortable, space for his mountain bikes and quite frugal to boot.
It's his first car and he hasn't been driving a year yet, insurance was £670 including breakdown cover (he covers long distances in it to his mountain biking sites, including France, so comfort and frugality rate quite high)
Last edited by myglaren on 29 Nov 2008, 12:31, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by red_dwarfers »

Hi joshier

You would be quite suprised on how irrelevent engine size is on car insurance prices!
I'm 18 and did have 1 yrs NCB when I took out my policy :oops: (bit of a car park knock (with a Porche Boxster :shock: ) after misjudging the length of the Xantia a couple of weeks after ownership, suffice to say very little damage was done.

I had a 1Ltr 3cyl 2000 V******* Corsa Club originally for around a year and insurance was the wrong side of £1600 :shock:
When it came to either renewing the Corsa or possibly buying a Xantia I was suprised to find out that the Xantia, depending on which company I went with, was either cheaper than the Corsa or at most £60 more expensive. Though I did have a few companies that had stupid amounts for the Xant (£2000+).
Went to test drive a couple of Xantias, liked them, a lot more luxuary than the corsa, I could overtake cars rather than just pushbikes too (corsa 0-60 in 17 secs, xantia 1.9TD around 11).
Anyway the punch being xantia costing £1100 to insure. I also made a £50 profit on selling the corsa and buying the Xant and also run on 50% vegetable oil to decrease costs even futher.

At the very end of the day, pick an unusual car, and for that, you can't get much more unusual with a hydraulic Citroen.

They are also fairly easy cars to work on despite all the rumours.
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Post by reblack68 »

Any modification to a car, if declared, is likely to increase your insurance far in excess of the performance gain. If it's not declared you're not insured.

Smaller engines aren't necessarily more economical. If a car is underpowered it has to work that much harder just to keep moving. The 1.9TD Xantia is an example of a car that wastes fuel because it hasn't got quite enough power, by all accounts the 2.1 uses much less fuel and goes faster.

As others have suggested there are anomalies in the insurance grouping system, the best thing you can do is spend an evening feeding potential cars into one of those insurance comparison sites and see what kind of numbers come out.
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