Turbo Charging

While a turbocharger can deliver impressive, high-end engine performance and acceleration, it also can improve the everyday, around-town performance of almost any vehicle while still providing efficient, economical operation.  A turbocharger is a gas compressor that is used for forced induction of an internal combustion engine.  A form of supercharger, the turbocharger increases the power of an internal combustion engine by pumping air into its combustion chambers at higher-than-normal pressures.  This creates a denser air/fuel mixture, resulting in higher engine horsepower output and torque. 

Unlike a basic supercharger, a turbocharger has the compressor powered by a turbine, which is driven by the engine's own exhaust gases rather than direct mechanical drive off the engine's crankshaft (which is what is used when supercharging a car).  Thus, a turbocharger achieves a higher degree of efficiency because it does not use any engine power to operate, just the engine's exhaust gases.