Turbo's are better in the sense that they don't rob power to make power. On a driveability standpoint roots superchargers blow turbo's out of the water. Excluding diesels turbos make too much heat when worked hard. Turbo's can be a mortal nightmare to just get working properly. Granted that is in the extreme cases of guys wanting, more,more,more. Done simply and intercooled a small turbo will perform well. Get into exotic setups and turbo's are just a royal pain in the butt.
As far as the thunderbird (and pre98 mustang) 3.8's go there are several reasons wy they blow head gaskets. The heads crack, The cooling system is insufficient, The head gasket design was crap, and so on and so forth.
Alan