270 WHP turbo B16

or

200 WHP NA B18

Though I love Honda performance for what it is and is capable of, not to mention the sound and feeling you get from a NA motor, you just can't argue what a difference a turbo makes. I noticed that todays quicker NA Hondas a running WAY fast. Especially to be all motor. Though the 60 ft times are mostly similar, if you look at the 660 ft times, NA cars are marginally faster from the slips I have seen.

Now granted there is obviously a HUGE advantage to running FI, it shows in HP numbers as well as insane e.t.'s and ridiculous trap speeds, wheter it be a FWD or a RWD or even a AWD for that matter. But what I am saying is, if you had a choice, which would you choose and descriptivly why?

 I do mostly road courses and canyons, and am getting involved in auto crossing as well, so I am aware of the disadvantages to high hp/trq levels at low speeds in a FWD that can be found with using a turbo/supercharger. But if done right it HAS to produce a better time on a track if all other variables remain the same. I have seen some cars I swore were just to damn fast to not be running FI or N2O, but they weren't. And to be honest, I think it is more impressive to do whatever you do with NA, it plays more into the idea of the muscle car group. It is also more fun that way as well.

But history has proven itself in the form of the Buick Grand National. That car single handedly changed the ideas of drag racing and the performance car market in general. Take a smaller motor with less weight and fuel consumption and add a turbo system to double or even triple the HP/TRQ in stock form. Then look at all the others like the Supra, Skyline, Lancer Evo, WRX, Audi, Porsche, 300ZX..... all came in a NA form, and were decent performers. But then take the same cars and turbo motors and look at the difference. It is astronomical the jump in performance.

 I am 95% sure I will be going turbo on my B16 in the CRX. Though I have seen things lately that make me second guess my decision. Namely numbers put down out of similar cars running 12's on a "bolt on" B18C1 or LS VTEC's. Again, I prefer road courses and canyons, but the numbers don't lie. I can always drop more money on my supension tuning and such which has to be done regardless for what I do.

 So what do you think? Keep in mind as well, I am not talking about a " my civic does 10's" turbo setup. Be REALSITIC, I am talking about a B16/18 that does not exceed 270-300 WHP and still runs pump gas without ANY problems. Be serious too about the NA motor, it would cost 3-5 times more money to get a B18 to 250 RELIABLE WHP, a RELIABLE B16 turbo making 250 WHP is not out of most of our price ranges.