Turbo Troubles Away; wherein we come to find that Normal aspiration is for mouth-breathers.(Chrysler PT Cruiser GT )

Everybody loves the Chrysler PT Cruiser GT, also known as the PT Turbo. That is not to say everybody didn't love the original PT Cruiser. Almost everybody did. It was an inexpensive, utilitarian retro hot rod, so what was not to love? A few owners and near owners said the original didn't have enough power and torque, but most were so in love with it they overlooked that flaw.

Well, as Dr. Joyce Brothers often says, there is no problem in this world so difficult that it can't be solved by turbocharging. Maybe it wasn't Dr. Brothers who said that, but the point is well taken. Same goes for a stiffer suspension and a better wheel/tire combination, which also comes with the PT Turbo.

The PT's turbo boosts peak horsepower from 150 to 215 and peak torque from 162 to 245 lb-ft. It's hard to argue with those numbers so we didn't, we just took them straight to the drag strip. With a curb weight of 3182 pounds for the automatic-equipped Cruiser, the weight-to-power ratio of the PT goes from 21.2 in the normally aspirated version (meaning each horsepower has to pull around 21.2 pounds of vehicle) to 14.8 in the Turbo. Those are two more numbers that are hard to argue with. On paper it looks like this car should be darned sprightly. And it was.

The normally aspirated PT we tested two years ago went from 0 to 60 mph in 9.49 seconds, which is on the slow side for any type of vehicle. If we had to pick competitors for this category buster they would be small SUVs, and all of them we've recently tested beat that figure. The new Honda CR-V returned a 0-to-60 time of 8.16 seconds, the Ford Escape 8.18 and the Subaru Outback 8.62. Our PT Turbo test vehicle got to 60 in 7.27 seconds, and that was with the autostick automatic transmission, the box chosen by most owners we spoke with. You can usually knock almost a second off a 0-to-60 time with a manual transmission, and the five-speed manual is standard in this car.

The PT Turbo stopped just as well as it ...