Top 10 Turbocharged Cars of All Time (With Video!)

Turbochargers are fast becoming ubiquitous. It's not because the whole car-buying world is crying out for huge surpluses of horsepower, but because turbos are simply the most elegant way to help small engines produce power while still delivering decent fuel economy. That's been obvious for decades. The development of turbocharged production cars hasn't been a steady march, but more a series of intermittent storms; big leaps forward, followed by fallow periods lasting years. In fact, some of the first turbocharged cars, like the Chevrolet Corvair Monza and Oldsmobile F-85 Jetfire introduced by GM for the 1962 model year, led to few sales and no significant production legacy. But since the mid-1970s certain turbo cars have pushed the art forward significantly. These are ten of the most important and prominent.

By John Pearley Huffman

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1. 1976 Porsche Turbo Carrera

Whatever you call it – 911 Turbo, Turbo Carrera, Turbo Porsche, 930, or just plain Turbo – this is it: The great icon of the turbocharged art. It's more than merely a Porsche 911 with a turbocharger, it's a cultural touchstone for anyone who grew up during the '70s. It's the car that inspired teenagers to put a poster of it up in their dorms next to that one with Farrah Fawcett—and the Lamborghini Countach of course. It's the car upon which the awesome 934 and 935 race cars were based, and there has never been a more thrilling or dominant race car than the 935. With its flared fenders and whale-tail spoiler, this is the car virtually everyone thinks of when the word "turbo" comes up in conversation.

But none of this is the reason why the original Turbo Carrera is so important. Porsche had been ludicrously successful in Can Am racing with its turbocharged 917/30 race machine so it made sense to port that experience over to the 911 where it could elevate Porsche's road car into a serious competitor against Ferraris and Lamborghinis. But making a turbocharged engine that was both powerful and civil enough for everyday driving wasn't going to be easy. Unlike previous turbo car builders, Porsche was able to pair the Turbo Carrera's turbocharger with Bosch's new K-Jetronic electronic fuel injection.

The combination of turbocharging paired with the precise fuel metering of electronic fuel injection was almost magical. It was now finally possible to produce a turbo engine that didn't detonate or starve for fuel throughout its operating rev range. That first Turbo Carrera wasn't an easy car to drive fast (there was plenty of turbo lag), but it was just about the first turbo car so capable of reliably puttering around town.

That Carrera's 3.0-liter flat Six was rated at just 234 hp and was available only with a four-speed manual transmission. As time passed, Porsche has sustained the 911 Turbo legend by constantly upgrading and tweaking its successors. Today, the beastliest 911 Turbo of them all is the 2009 GT2, which slams along with 530 hp. 'Nuff said.

This video is in Norwegian … you do speak Norwegian, right?

Test Driving the 1976 Porsche Turbo Carrera

CLICK FOR MORE The Top 10 Turbocharged Cars of All Time
1. 1976 Porsche Turbo Carrera	2. 1978 Saab 99 Turbo	3. 1984 Ferrari 288 GTO and 1987 Ferrari F40	4. 1978 Mercedes-Benz 300SD	5. 1984 Buick Grand National and Regal T-Type
6. 2005 Bugatti Veyron	7. 1994 Toyota Supra Turbo	8. 1982 Volvo 240 Turbo Wagon	9. 1992 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution	10. 1979 Ford Mustang Turbo