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- 3 February 2000
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The myth of
Over the past few months I keep seeing people say something to the effect of: "Because of the BBSC [and/or other new forced induction options], there will soon be a flood of cheap used Comptech superchargers."
I believe this theory is flaws for several reasons. But first, I want to say that the purpose of this is not to put down the BBSC. I have seen this system on several cars and have been impressed by it in a number of ways. As for reliability... time will tell.
Second, I am also not defending the CTSC just because I have one. It is a great product in my opinion and I am very happy with it. But just to be clear - 1) I have no plan to sell my car and 2) If I did sell my car, I would NEVER put it back to stock and try to sell off the parts separately. Almost everything is modified and it would be a nightmare to make it stock again. So I have no reason to try and talk up the used CTSC market.
Let's begin with the main misconception I've heard from people lately. They say either "the BBSC is half the price of the CTSC" or "the CTSC is twice as much as the BBSC." BZZZZTTTT! Try again.
Even when the BBSC was less expensive and the CTSC was more expensive this was not true even if you paid full retail for the CTSC (which not many people did). Now that the price on the BBSC has gone up and the price on the CTSC had gone down, things are even closer. Let's look at the current numbers:
If you want to buy a BBSC right now, it is $6500 + installation. You can go see this price yourself on either www.daliracing.com or www.scienceofspeed.com
We recently saw a vendor say they would sell new 3.0L coupe CTSC superchargers for $7500. Another fairly well known Comptech reseller said he would match that.
So, according to my math, the difference is $1000. Thus, for the majority of owners (3.0L coupes), it is roughly 14% less for a new BBSC vs. a new CTSC.
If the CTSC were twice as expensive as the BBSC it would be $13,000. If the BBSC were half as expensive as the CTSC, it would be $3750.
Installation is pretty comparable for both systems as far as I can tell.
So there it is. Someone buying a new supercharger for their 3.0L coupe faces about a $1000 difference between the two systems. For most people that will probably be some sort of factor in their decision, but I doubt it will be anywhere near the most important factor for most buyers.
More important for me, at least, would be the power band. The power bands from the various forced induction kits are NOT the same. The area under the curve for the type of driving I do most is far more important to me than the peak HP number at redline. Other people who use their car differently probably have different wants.
Probably the biggest "brand" difference is track record (pardon the pun). There are hundreds of CTSCs that have been installed for years. The BBSC and many of the new turbo systems appear to have potential, but the fact is they are not long-term proven yet simply by virtue of the fact that they are new. In fact, all the turbos other than the Bell kit are still one-offs or custom jobs with less than half a dozen of any particular setup installed as far as I know.
Finally, there is the -T issue. The BBSC packaging is nice in that you retain the stock engine cover. The CTSC kit for -T cars is also more expensive due to the need to replace the OEM triangular strut brace. So -T owners have a couple other considerations.
Anyway, all that is for people buying new. If someone already HAS a forced induction system of any kind, it takes a lot more to convince them to SWITCH from one forced induction setup to another than to simply SELECT one over the other if they were starting from scratch. Any marginal gains are much smaller because they are going from one forced induction setup to another. There will also be considerably more labor involved.
The fact is, there are only several hundred NSX CTSCs installed out there. The number of people who find that marginal benefit to be worth the cost and hassle is clearly small. And the number of NSX-Ts with a CTSC switching to BBSC setups simply can't be that large because it's would be a very small subset of an already small group!!
That said, I do know a few people who have switched or are switching. A few, not dozens and certainly not hundreds. Most of those are people who want to build their car up to take a high-boost version of the BBSC. These are not people buying the BBSC because it's a little cheaper, they are people who want 500+ HP and are willing to spend thousands MORE to rebuild their motors to handle it.
Even with all that, only a handfull of used CTSCs have become available and all the ones I know of have sold at about the same price they did before the BBSC or all the new turbos were out there. So I haven't even really seen a dip in the price, much less a crash.
If there was ever going to be a "flood to cheap used CTSC kits", it would have happened after the first round of BBSC installations. That was the best time to switch from a CTSC to a BBSC because the cost was lower and installation was free.
Now that the cost has gone up a bit and installation is no longer included, the cost to swich is considerable and in my opinion the MARGINAL benefit would be fairly small unless you were planning to go all-out and build a 500 HP car. So, given that the "flood" never materialized, I don't see anything that is going to make it happen in the future. None of the turbo kits are likely to even sell as well as the BBSC in my opinion, and if the BBSC didn't induce the flood, I don't see how anything else will.
Of course that's just my opinion.
Over the past few months I keep seeing people say something to the effect of: "Because of the BBSC [and/or other new forced induction options], there will soon be a flood of cheap used Comptech superchargers."
I believe this theory is flaws for several reasons. But first, I want to say that the purpose of this is not to put down the BBSC. I have seen this system on several cars and have been impressed by it in a number of ways. As for reliability... time will tell.
Second, I am also not defending the CTSC just because I have one. It is a great product in my opinion and I am very happy with it. But just to be clear - 1) I have no plan to sell my car and 2) If I did sell my car, I would NEVER put it back to stock and try to sell off the parts separately. Almost everything is modified and it would be a nightmare to make it stock again. So I have no reason to try and talk up the used CTSC market.
Let's begin with the main misconception I've heard from people lately. They say either "the BBSC is half the price of the CTSC" or "the CTSC is twice as much as the BBSC." BZZZZTTTT! Try again.
Even when the BBSC was less expensive and the CTSC was more expensive this was not true even if you paid full retail for the CTSC (which not many people did). Now that the price on the BBSC has gone up and the price on the CTSC had gone down, things are even closer. Let's look at the current numbers:
If you want to buy a BBSC right now, it is $6500 + installation. You can go see this price yourself on either www.daliracing.com or www.scienceofspeed.com
We recently saw a vendor say they would sell new 3.0L coupe CTSC superchargers for $7500. Another fairly well known Comptech reseller said he would match that.
So, according to my math, the difference is $1000. Thus, for the majority of owners (3.0L coupes), it is roughly 14% less for a new BBSC vs. a new CTSC.
If the CTSC were twice as expensive as the BBSC it would be $13,000. If the BBSC were half as expensive as the CTSC, it would be $3750.
Installation is pretty comparable for both systems as far as I can tell.
So there it is. Someone buying a new supercharger for their 3.0L coupe faces about a $1000 difference between the two systems. For most people that will probably be some sort of factor in their decision, but I doubt it will be anywhere near the most important factor for most buyers.
More important for me, at least, would be the power band. The power bands from the various forced induction kits are NOT the same. The area under the curve for the type of driving I do most is far more important to me than the peak HP number at redline. Other people who use their car differently probably have different wants.
Probably the biggest "brand" difference is track record (pardon the pun). There are hundreds of CTSCs that have been installed for years. The BBSC and many of the new turbo systems appear to have potential, but the fact is they are not long-term proven yet simply by virtue of the fact that they are new. In fact, all the turbos other than the Bell kit are still one-offs or custom jobs with less than half a dozen of any particular setup installed as far as I know.
Finally, there is the -T issue. The BBSC packaging is nice in that you retain the stock engine cover. The CTSC kit for -T cars is also more expensive due to the need to replace the OEM triangular strut brace. So -T owners have a couple other considerations.
Anyway, all that is for people buying new. If someone already HAS a forced induction system of any kind, it takes a lot more to convince them to SWITCH from one forced induction setup to another than to simply SELECT one over the other if they were starting from scratch. Any marginal gains are much smaller because they are going from one forced induction setup to another. There will also be considerably more labor involved.
The fact is, there are only several hundred NSX CTSCs installed out there. The number of people who find that marginal benefit to be worth the cost and hassle is clearly small. And the number of NSX-Ts with a CTSC switching to BBSC setups simply can't be that large because it's would be a very small subset of an already small group!!
That said, I do know a few people who have switched or are switching. A few, not dozens and certainly not hundreds. Most of those are people who want to build their car up to take a high-boost version of the BBSC. These are not people buying the BBSC because it's a little cheaper, they are people who want 500+ HP and are willing to spend thousands MORE to rebuild their motors to handle it.
Even with all that, only a handfull of used CTSCs have become available and all the ones I know of have sold at about the same price they did before the BBSC or all the new turbos were out there. So I haven't even really seen a dip in the price, much less a crash.
If there was ever going to be a "flood to cheap used CTSC kits", it would have happened after the first round of BBSC installations. That was the best time to switch from a CTSC to a BBSC because the cost was lower and installation was free.
Now that the cost has gone up a bit and installation is no longer included, the cost to swich is considerable and in my opinion the MARGINAL benefit would be fairly small unless you were planning to go all-out and build a 500 HP car. So, given that the "flood" never materialized, I don't see anything that is going to make it happen in the future. None of the turbo kits are likely to even sell as well as the BBSC in my opinion, and if the BBSC didn't induce the flood, I don't see how anything else will.
Of course that's just my opinion.
