January 14, 2004
VW/Audi 1.8T (4 Cylinder)--Little Engine that Could
I have always stayed away from any Turbo-charged engines in the past for a variety of reasons (Turbo lag for one). Instead, I have always opted to get a regular V6 or V8 in order to get the necessary HP I needed. So, why am I writing about this turbo engine? To my surprise, for the first time in my life, I am driving a car that has a turbo-charged engine. The 1.8T has 5 Valves per cylinder (total of 20 Valves) and can typically produce 170 or 180HP @ 5900 rpm stock and if you add a new chip from custom auto shops, you can get this up to 200 to 210HP easily for about $500 installed. However, it is not the prodigious HP that I felt in love with. It's the broad and flat torque curve. For instance, my engine (170 HP) produces the maximum torque of 166 lb.ft @ 1950-5000 rpm. Talk about the range! The engine has a minimum turbo lag, and sings beautifully at 4000 to 5000 rpm. The best yet is the gas mileage I can get with this engine--21/22 city and 30/31 highway. The engine is also environmental friendly (ULEV) as well. So, I'm sold. This is a highly refined engine that goes against the "macho" logic that you need to apply the brute force in designing engines (the bigger and more, the better).
Posted by Ken | PermalinkInteresting...very good demonstration of "there's more than one way to skin a cat" when it comes to power generation. For example, my car has a 3.0L normally-aspirated 4-cylinder, 16-valve engine that generates 236 HP and 225 lb-ft of torque (IIRC, it's the most powerful and largest displacement 4-cylinder car engine ever put into production). It doesn't have quite as flat a torque curve as yours does, but it gets the same fuel economy (21 city, 30 highway).
Posted by Craig at January 14, 2004 05:26 PMInteresting. I thought you had the 968 Turbo, but I guess I was wrong.
Posted by Ken at January 15, 2004 09:52 AM968 Turbo?! Ha...sadly, no. There were less than a dozen Turbos ever produced, and I think there are only one or two production Turbo 968s in this country (one for sale went for 60 grand or so). While a turbo conversion can be done, it's pretty expensive and I admittedly don't need 500 HP in my daily driver. :-)
Posted by Craig at January 15, 2004 01:17 PMI'm sold on turbos, too. My WRX is the first turbo I've driven on an everyday basis and I love it. I had it dyno'd last spring and it put down 278 HP to the wheels on an AWD dyno. It's best 1/4 is 13.2 @ 102mph. (No, it's not stock.) But it's fun!
Posted by Mitch at January 15, 2004 11:43 PMTo leave a comment or read updated entries, please visit GearBits' current site. Thanks.