When my cell phone rang saturday displaying the name of my local tuner in the caller ID, I thought he was making a courtesy call to follow-up on a recent service visit. To my delight, he was calling me to arrange a test drive of a TPC supercharger system he had just installed in a 3.4 C2. Could I meet him Sunday morning for a coffee and a drive? Oh yeah.

As an owner of an EVO Supercharger on my C4S, I was most anxious for a direct comparison. While, the 3.4 vs 3.6 provides some disparity in displacement and gross weight, I thought it was an excellent chance for a side by side comparison of the two systems. I'll offer my general impressions then offer my opinion on a series of factors I consider important.

We met at a local Starbucks and arranged for a series of side by side runs along a local highway. We conducted 8 runs; four with me driving the C2 and four with me driving my 4S. We began in 2nd gear and after 3 horn basts, we were off to the races.

I was surprised at how quick the TPC accelerated. It definitely generates more power at low end and in a 0-60 race, I am sure it would beat the the EVO. But, the NOISE was awful. The supercharger whine was very loud and annoying. It sounded like a synchronous transmission on a race car. While I enjoyed the visceral feel of acceleration, I know the whine would get to me over time.

Over the course of the 8 runs, we were dead even from 40-100 mph. A couple times the TPC pulled and a couple of times the EVO pulled. I attribute this difference to driver input at the start. While we didn’t do any very high speed runs, (highest I saw was 130) the EVO was starting to pull after 100mph. This would align with HP curves that show the EVO building most power after 80mph.

I admit I was very impressed with the acceleration of the TPC. This was a smaller displacment motor and it hung with a 3.6. Impressive. Sure the C2 was lighter by a few hundred pounds but it hung in there and I was surprised.

However, acceleration should not be the only criteria on which to judge these two systems. I offer my rating on a number of factors I consider important.

Appearance - Advantage EVO - The TPC would greatly benefit from attention to detail. The aluminum intercooler was just plain ugly and should have been painted. The EVO looks MUCH better.

Fit - Advantage EVO - The tuner indicated they worked on the installation for almost a week. Granted it was their first install of this kit but they indicated they had much fitment and alignment issues with which to contend. Some fabrication was necessary.

0-60 Acceleration - Advantage TPC The TPC kit really accelerated nicely and were this a 3.6 engine, I am sure it would have pulled away.

40-100 Acceleration - Advantage TPC Same comments as above.

100 and beyond - Advantage EVO The EVO kit was really building some smack when we had to shut it down for traffic. I am confident it would have a higher top end speed.

Noise - Advantage EVO - The TPC kit was LOUD and I don't mean the nice deep exhaust kind of loud. I mean a high pitch whine kind of loud that would have sent my dog howling and my wife to her Volvo. The EVO kit can barely be heard with just a slight whir of the blower.

Cost - TIE - They both cost the same.

System Reliability - Advanatge EVO - The EVO system has more installs (996 model) and more of a track record than TPC. There is a stong national EVO dealer network and they have an excellent record for standing behing their system.

Overall Winner - EVO - I am not just saying this to justify my decision to buy the EVO. I really feel that if you are buying a Supercharger, you should buy the EVO. Having driven and closely compared the two systems, I am confident I made the right decision.

 

Great post Tal.

 

Where do the intercoolers go on these kits? I was wondering that today, as Im not super familiar with either kit.

 

Both systems have the intercoolers installed in the engine compartment.

 

I'm glad someone else finally said it. The TPC kit is a HP/torque beast. Nobody seemed to believe me when I posted this before when I rode in them back to back. Says a lot that his 3.4 kit was hanging or pulling on the 3.6 under 100mph. Imagine if it was a 3.6 comparison....

Your post is accurate on all accounts. The TPC kit is very noisy and the appearance is a little rough. I'm sure painting the charge cooler would make it look a lot better though. I like the sound of the TPC kit, but I'm sure it would get old quick as the whine from the SC sounds like something out of a "mad max" movie.

I bought the EVO kit for the same reasons Tal did. The engineering behind the EVO kit is a little more solid. Although the TPC piggy back ECU and 7th injector works, long term reliability concerned me. EVO/VF really did their homework on their setup.

If TPC could get GIAC to do their software and upgrade to larger injectors, I'm quite sure the TPC kit would give EVO a run for their money.

Good post. You should post this over in the SC owner's thread too.

 

Nice, fair post Tal, but I think both kits are way overpriced. Now for a Ruf comparison!

 

Bravo Tal, nice post.

 

great post. I'm still waiting to drive my newly installed evo. too bad we're in for another blizzard here in T.O.

 

Talk about overpriced. The RUF kit has less HP, and costs more than double the EVO kit. I could buy an EVO kit and a spare motor for the price of a RUF system.

 

thx cap! i too wish my evo sc had more grunt down low, just like the brutal acceleration of a TT but i am sure my car's tranny is glad that it doesn't

 

yer right about both kits being overpriced. the same VF kits for bimmers and VW are much cheaper. they are half price! attribute this to the porsche tax . i know the Ruf kit i s more involved (new intake manifolds, dropping the engine, etc...) but 20K!!! that is when you dump the 996NA for a TT. the evo/tpc kits make more sense. i do wanna see some numbers from a ruf SC though

 

echhh, the thread is too long. gotta sift thru a lot of crap to get to the good stuff

 

Anyone have a picture of their kit? Im looking at the evoms one and I can see the charger and the liquid to air intercooler (cool!), but I dont see the intake piping into the charger (only out) due to the angle of the photo.

Im pretty familiar with centrifugal chargers like the one in the evoms kit, but the TPC uses a eaton "roots" style blower. I thought these were kind dated blowers (like from old muscle cars), and that the twin screw was becoming more popular for higher boost earlier on in the rev range. Whats the boost characteristics of the tpc kit? Does it differ from the ultra linearity of the centrifugal?

 

the intake tubing is in red. the pic is kinda disorienting. it looks like the large pipe coming out of the SC is attached to the intercooler but it acually dives under it and snake up a little bit more and terminates close to the intake manifold.

 

what are the warranties like for both companies (TPC vs. EVO)?