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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).
Comments
Interesting...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 5:26 PM
Interesting. I thought you had the 968 Turbo, but I guess I was wrong.
Posted by: Ken at January 15, 2004 9:52 AM
968 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 1:17 PM
I'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 PM
I have 1.8T engine and for some reason I don't have that power at 4000-5000 rpms.
Posted by: Serjay at May 20, 2006 5:43 PM
i never wanted a front drive or japanese anything
then i found a mint 90 ford probe turbo gt snd life on wheels has never been so much fun.
i love 30 mpg going 75-85 with air .
it handles great and feels good.
not the asphalt shredder my 460 mustang was but at $3.50+ /gal i'll live.
Posted by: tom at June 5, 2007 11:42 PM
i am doing a project for english and i am trying to compare high performance 4 cylinder engines and stock v8's. to see witch one would be a better engine...i am up for suggestions
Posted by: MItch at December 7, 2007 2:27 PM
i am doing a project for english and i am trying to compare high performance 4 cylinder engines and stock v8's. to see witch one would be a better engine...i am up for suggestions
Posted by: MItch adams at December 7, 2007 2:28 PM
habe einen audi a4 1.8l turbo!!
habe auf dem 1. zylinder ständig zündaussetzer!!
zündspule schon ersetzt!!!
wass tun bei so einem fall??
danke
Posted by: Andreas at February 25, 2008 10:37 AM