World's Best engines

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sox63

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http://www.wheels24.co.za/Content/N...55/17-06-2009 03-06/Worlds_best_engines_named


Volkswagen's 1.4 TSI Twincharger engine has been adjudged the world's best engine in the international engine of the year contest that saw German engines dominate 11 of the 12 categories.
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So maybe my personal thoughts on the engine are not that good, but it IS a good innovation. Well done to VW. IIRC BMW has had this for the past few years?

I was looking at the Scirroco, and even if I had the spare cash to get myself a coupe, the thought of buying a 1.4l car for so much money still does not make sense. I guess I need to change my old school mindset. :o
 
Meh, don't like the fact that it's a 1.4 engine with both a Supercharger and Turbo charger, just having one of those already means plenty of extra things to break, now you have both, not to mention the amount of power it's pushing is close to what 1.6 Turbo charged engines usually make so it remains to be seen how reliable they're going to be.

I also notice this is some kind of SA list, personally I hold Ward's 10 Best Engines to be far better.
 
Gnome said:
Meh, don't like the fact that it's a 1.4 engine with both a Supercharger and Turbo charger, just having one of those already means plenty of extra things to break, now you have both, not to mention the amount of power it's pushing is close to what 1.6 Turbo charged engines usually make so it remains to be seen how reliable they're going to be.

I also notice this is some kind of SA list, personally I hold Ward's 10 Best Engines to be far better.
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I have recently bought myself the Golf 6 TSi, and when driving it, you won't know it is a 1.4 unless someone told you so... It is a fabulous car...!

The thing most people worry about, is a 1.4 not going to work so much harder to produce such power...? In fact - the 1.4 TSi delivers power at low low revs, and keep a steady torque range until about 5000 RPM... And you need to even drive the hell out of it to produce the power. You can drive it like a normal car, and it will still perform like a 2.0 or even higher...

I think VW did well by using the FSi motor, and put a turbo on it for even more power (and please note: it isn't even a high pressure turbo). So the strain on the motor is not so high...
 
I agree that there are more things to break, but having driven a TSI engine it really is amazing just how powerful it is for a 1.4L. It does have a bit of a flat spot below 2000rpm but above that it pulls like a demon :)
 
Believe me I'm not arguing that it's not nice to drive or has plenty of power, getting power from a engine is easy, there are 1.4 Corsa Lite's out there with Turbo's making more power than that VW 1.4 and I'm sure there are some *****ty Golfs & Fords that also make that kind of power (with a 1.4 Turbo), they all have on thing in common tho: I don't trust them.

I personally feel the BMW N52 doesn't get enough praise, it's a really remarkable N/A engine as well as some of the 9000RPM Honda engines, the fact that they make a engine go to 9000rpm and last as long as they do is really a feat of engineering IMHO.
 
Gnome said:
Believe me I'm not arguing that it's not nice to drive or has plenty of power, getting power from a engine is easy, there are 1.4 Corsa Lite's out there with Turbo's making more power than that VW 1.4 and I'm sure there are some *****ty Golfs & Fords that also make that kind of power (with a 1.4 Turbo), they all have on thing in common tho: I don't trust them.

I personally feel the BMW N52 doesn't get enough praise, it's a really remarkable N/A engine as well as some of the 9000RPM Honda engines, the fact that they make a engine go to 9000rpm and last as long as they do is really a feat of engineering IMHO.
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Dont you think you getting ahead of yourself now...
How can you judge the engines reliability before its even done a few thousand kms?
Everyones going on about the reliability but they dont have any proof, they just dont trust it is just being stupid.

Also you cant compare a standard model engine to one that has an after market bolt on turbo. Its obvious which one will be more reliable!

Nice one VW, a "green" engine with some power!:D
 
JK8 said:

Dont you think you getting ahead of yourself now...
How can you judge the engines reliability before its even done a few thousand kms?
Everyones going on about the reliability but they dont have any proof, they just dont trust it is just being stupid.
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Well obviously time will tell but regardless, a Turbo engine has more parts to fail, plenty more, not to mention the fact that if something minor fails on a Turbo engine, especially one with high output, like the boost controller or even the air mass sensor and it's not detected by the ECU you can blow your engines in a matter of seconds whereas a N/A engine you can happily drive it to the garage, knocking and everything and still have a working engine when you get there.

JK8 said:

Also you cant compare a standard model engine to one that has an after market bolt on turbo. Its obvious which one will be more reliable!
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Agreed, not comparable in any sense, I'm just making the point that high output doesn't make a great engine! I just don't like high output turbo engines VW, Opel, Mercedes whatever, don't trust em ;)
 
Gnome said:
Meh, don't like the fact that it's a 1.4 engine with both a Supercharger and Turbo charger, just having one of those already means plenty of extra things to break, now you have both, not to mention the amount of power it's pushing is close to what 1.6 Turbo charged engines usually make so it remains to be seen how reliable they're going to be.
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+1

how many times have you heard of turbo's blowing. it might not be the engine's fault only but also the ppl driving 'em...

...still the less that can fail the better
 
Gnome said:
Well obviously time will tell but regardless, a Turbo engine has more parts to fail, plenty more, not to mention the fact that if something minor fails on a Turbo engine, especially one with high output, like the boost controller or even the air mass sensor and it's not detected by the ECU you can blow your engines in a matter of seconds whereas a N/A engine you can happily drive it to the garage, knocking and everything and still have a working engine when you get there.



Agreed, not comparable in any sense, I'm just making the point that high output doesn't make a great engine! I just don't like high output turbo engines VW, Opel, Mercedes whatever, don't trust em ;)
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I still dont see what you basing your argument on?
Most manufacturers have been making turbo engines since 1999(mainstream)
All diesel and turbo petrol engine have survived thus far... The VW TDi issue aside, I think turbo engines have come along way and in terms of German manufacturers I dont see alot of issues with them in the past 10 years.
i would say the most dangerous part of a turbo engine will be at low revs, correct? Initial boost afaik is the where they are at their most vulnerable...
These 1.4 have superchargers aswell as turbos, so almost no turbo lag, and less turbo work at low revs...
The supercharger in the 1.4 is small, smaller than the "kompressor" in Merc engines and look how reliable are Merc Kompressors...

Either way, I wouldnt knock VWs little engine, I think the engineers and the judges in this survey have done enough homework to realise how good the engine is and has awarded it appropriately!
 
JK8 said:

I still dont see what you basing your argument on?
Most manufacturers have been making turbo engines since 1999(mainstream)
All diesel and turbo petrol engine have survived thus far... The VW TDi issue aside, I think turbo engines have come along way and in terms of German manufacturers I dont see alot of issues with them in the past 10 years.
i would say the most dangerous part of a turbo engine will be at low revs, correct? Initial boost afaik is the where they are at their most vulnerable...
These 1.4 have superchargers aswell as turbos, so almost no turbo lag, and less turbo work at low revs...
The supercharger in the 1.4 is small, smaller than the "kompressor" in Merc engines and look how reliable are Merc Kompressors...
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Superchargers (aka "Kompressor") is FAR more reliable than a Turbo charger, by leaps and bounds, that said the problem with boosted engines isn't because of low loads or whatever, the reason the engine is more likely to blow at low RPM's is because the engine is under load, when the engine is under load, knocking is more likely to occur (that is also why a Turbo engine universally runs richer than a N/A engine) and unlike a N/A if you even just hear a Turbo engine knock it's already too late, bye bye piston, head gasket, etc. (that huge volume of compressed air is spontaneously combusting for a reason, it's a furnace in that cylinder) Superchargers are less prone because they boost less than Turbo charger and it doesn't use components like waste gates and dump valves, the boost is already setup from the start and that's how much it is, no dumping of pressure or bypassing at high rpms to prevent overspinning/overboosting.
 
You do know that this engine has already been used overseas for a few years now? VWSA delayed introducing it here because of SA opinion that small capacity engines would not go down well in SA ( a bit like USA ). Seems they were right ;)
 
Just shows how VAG are ahead of the rest. The 1.4TSI engine won Best new engine way back in 2006 and now 3 years later it is still good enough to be Engine of the Year overall. BMW might have won overall for the last few years and they are great engines but their big engines cost way more to build. VAG have won best in class a few times now with their 2.0T engine (GTi, A3 2.0T, Seat Leon 2.0T) so all the Slowpel and Fraud drivers who diss VW know where they can shove it. VW FTW :)
 
I wana fit 1.8 20v turbo in a golf 1. .any advice? Id lyk 2fit a bigger turbo tho
 
My opinion, the biggest reason for a turbo to fail is driver error. Not allowing sufficient time for the turbo to spin down after driving, revving the engine when not under load (stopped at a robot etc), and using incorrect fuel. Fuel one might be a bit of a personal preference for me, but I've always believed you should use the highest octane available.
 
According to international reports, Volkswagen is thinking of cutting the 1.4TSI twincharger engine from production. The engine, both turbocharged and supercharged, is said to be too complex and too expensive for Volkswagen to continue making.
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http://www.caradvice.com.au/99056/volkswagen-1-4tsi-twincharger-to-be-phased-out-report/

That's my concern too. The internals of the engine are probably fine but what happens when a sensor breaks or a chip fries or a little pipe gets blocked?
The more complex an engine and it's electronics and sensors the more costly it is to trouble shoot and fix.
 
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