Qs about Lag and driving styles

[Enigma_Man]

Okay, I have a couple of questions, and a few statements about turbo lag. And questions about driving style:

When I'm driving around, I don't generally drop the rpms below 2000, because the car sounds very unhappy, and just won't go anywhere. Does anybody?

If I'm not driving hard, I'll keep the rpms between about 2.5-3.5K, and when I step on it, there's very minimal lag, like maybe .3 seconds for the turbo to spin up. If I'm driving hard, the rpms will be above 3.5K, and there is _no_ lag to mention... Step on it, and it's all there now.

It seems like everyone that talks about turbos is concerned about lag (especially the non-believers, heh), and they make it sound like it takes like 5 seconds to work its way up.

Do the real bigger turbos take that much more time? I understand on a gigantor one for drag racing that it could take a bit...

Seriously, does _anybody_ here have a problem with turbo lag?

-Jesse

 

[rdrkt]

At this point your lag probably has a lot more to do with your tuning than your turbo. I think lag is really over rated anyway. I get 15lbs or so by 4300 rpms on a turbo that makes about 400hp on pump gas. You have to be willing to make some compromises to make power.

 

[TurBoGs-T]

I upgraded my turbo to a 19c(Frank Jr) and there is definately an obvious difference in spool up. It's not too bad depending on how you like to run. But i have noticed that it's harder for me to launch as well as i used to. But top end it's worth it to me. But the lag is noticeable.

 

[madmax]

^^^^^^
But, given that your FWD, does the fact that the 19c has so much lag help you? I'm wondering, because it seems that on a FWD, lag can be your friend, when launching.

 

[Tevenor]

Lag is very much a point of view thing. If you start at 2k and mash the throttle in 2nd, it isn't lack. You are below the boost threshold. Once boost starts to build then the time to it takes to get to your max boost level is the spool up. In general, the bigger the turbo, the longer the spool time. Lag is really how long it takes to go from full boost-0boost and back to full boost (as if you were shifting going down the 1/4 mile).
In general, the bigger the turbo the longer the lag.