This car is completely different in high temps

I'm surprised there's not much talk about it.

90-100+f, this car is not pulling me hard at all, boost levels drop down to like ~15psi, sometimes lower. Feels about as fast as the new Si. Not even exagerrating.

Same day, only going for a night drive where temps are in the ~70s to 60s in so cal, boost levels hit 20+ psi consistently and I fall in love all over again. Car loses traction and all that good stuff when flooring it. Back to normal.

Also I notice if I'm in idling in a parking lot and it's HOT outside, the car will severely cut your boost to like 13 psi when driving out.

I'm bone stock OEM everything. 2019. This car just loves cooler weather.

Welcome to small engine turbo cars friend - heat soak is real - esp in brutal LA with all that traffic and concrete? Yeah it's just something you get used to or add power to work past.

I don't know about in the R forums, but in the regular turbo forums, I've probably posted about this many times. I have a TSP tuned base 1.5T dyno'd at 220 whp and in hot and humid weather, it feels so sluggish it almost feels stock.

The other day it was 95 and humid and I gunned it and it felt like a slug. For a split second, I was wondering if I had a mechanical issue. Then I remembered "oh, it's hot af". The next day it was 70 and my car was a rocket.

Here's the science of it. All cars heat soak to an extent. Turbos produce even more heat so the heat soak and power reduction is even worse. Even though you don't often hear about it, humidity is a power killer, too. Cars rely on a mixture of air and gas. The denser the air, the better, especially with a turbo. Cold air is better than hot because it's denser. Humid air is filled with water and those water molecules replace some of the oxygen molecules and make the air even less dense.

Hot ambient temps make your car slower. Add high humidity and it's slower still.

The moral of the story, if you go to a drag strip, do it on a dry, crisp cool day.

That’s normal for this car in hotter days. Drove it to the grocery store today (96F outside) and it felt like a slug. That’s with a Hondata tune and aftermarket intercooler. TBH, I had more fun gunning my Leaf (long gone) at the stoplights and making passes on the highway than the CTR.

With its 22 MPG, I think this experiment will be short-lived. Eyeing a used Model 3 currently.

I bought my CTR four months ago so all I've known is what it's like in the 90+ degree central FL heat. I can't wait until we get our first "cold" front! The higher PSI along with no A/C should bring an even bigger smile to my face every time I drive.

On the street?

I haven't *ever* noticed the car making less power because of heat and humidity in spirited driving on the street. And it's been high nineties and humid for quite some time now.

^ You must not be in tune with your car so to speak. I guarantee if you asked members here if they have experienced (or know about) heat soak power loss 95%+ would say yes.

Just as an experiment, drive your car spiritedly on the next cool, crisp night and see if it doesn't feel more potent than on those 95 degree hot and humid days.

I used to live in Puerto Rico super hot and humid. We used to exclusively do our racing at night. Sometimes you'd go from 90-100 day temps to 60 at night. None of us ever wanted to lose due to the heat lol

Every turbo car I have owned, and that's more than a few....loses power in the hot and humid weather. Cold air is dense air. Need dense air for proper AFR with boost and additional fuel.

Consider an upgraded intercooler to help mitigation and/or go for a meth injection system to really cool the IAT.

FWIW, even N/A cars typically make more power in cold weather, but the delta isnt quite so bad like it is with F/I. In summertime my 2002 Z06 was more fun during the day than my 2002 WRX, they were probably the best of both worlds pair of cars I ever owned back when I was single.....


Ah....glory days....

I was participating in the time attack challenge at my last track day. The challenge happens during the lunch part of the track day and they grid you based on times. Managed to get a decent time in the morning, even with a passenger, so they gridded me at #6-7. By the time the challenge rolled around, the temperatures were 85-90. I ended up doing one lap before the car started pulling power and my friend in his NA s2k was riding my ass.

I've been working hard on resolving the overheating issues but it's been frustrating to say the less. Although I plan on keeping the CTR, thanks to this car, I have no future plans on getting another boosted vehicle for the track.

gtman said:

Here's the science of it. All cars heat soak to an extent. Turbos produce even more heat so the heat soak and power reduction is even worse. Even though you don't often hear about it, humidity is a power killer, too. Cars rely on a mixture of air and gas. The denser the air, the better, especially with a turbo. Cold air is better than hot because it's denser. Humid air is filled with water and those water molecules replace some of the oxygen molecules and make the air even less dense.

Click to expand...

Yeah I was aware of the science behind it.

Hopefully newer generation Type R's have much better cooling/heat soak prevention.

pocketsaintemptycuz said:

It's just a night and day difference and not many reviewers have brought it up on YouTube for instance. I just wish it wasn't as bad.

Hopefully newer generation Type R's have much better cooling/heat soak prevention.

Click to expand...

Reviewers test the car for a few hours or a day. They aren't going to talk about something as generic as heat soak.

Check out my intake temps. The car is heat soaked. This is in so cal 90 degree ambient temp traveling at 35 mph in mild traffic for a good 25 mins. The readings is temperature from the intake and post intercooler. Car has Mishimoto intake and prl intercooler. Very sluggish.

That is the highest I have ever seen post intercooler! gahdayum

pocketsaintemptycuz said:

I'm surprised there's not much talk about it.

90-100+f, this car is not pulling me hard at all, boost levels drop down to like ~15psi, sometimes lower. Feels about as fast as the new Si. Not even exagerrating.

Same day, only going for a night drive where temps are in the ~70s to 60s in so cal, boost levels hit 20+ psi consistently and I fall in love all over again. Car loses traction and all that good stuff when flooring it. Back to normal.

Also I notice if I'm in idling in a parking lot and it's HOT outside, the car will severely cut your boost to like 13 psi when driving out.

I'm bone stock OEM everything. 2019. This car just loves cooler weather.

Click to expand...

This is intentional. I looked at the current tune maps on the car and yes, with the IAT map, they do drop boost down by a lot.

Heat is any turbo car's enemy. They are just trying to save the engine.