They strapped on an engine-driven supercharger and an exhaust gas turbocharger, arranged in series, and ended up with the equivalent of a pressure cooker under the bonnet, producing up to 170bhp. The supercharger operates at lower engine speeds and the turbo comes in as speed picks up. A little boost gauge in the centre of the instruments lets you know that even the most modest inputs of power are triggering this pressure cooker effect.
Frenetic All of which sounds a little frenetic. Anything but. The whirr of the supercharger is just about audible but there is no peakiness about the power delivery. This engine pulls from low revs as willingly as a diesel – though without the vibrations – as the supercharger does its work. As revs rise, the supercharger hands over to the turbocharger which catapults you to the red line like any good sporting petrol engine should. From the driver’s seat, all this technology works imperceptibly. There are no ‘steps’ in the rev range so at no time do you find yourself hunting around for some sweet spot; it’s all sweet.
The pay-off for squeezing a quart’s worth of performance out of a pint pot’s worth of engine capacity is lower fuel consumption than the bigger engine it mimics. Little wonder that the TSI was named Best New Engine of 2006 at the International Engine of the Year Awards… and just how sorry am I not to have got an invite to that shindig? OK, great engine. What about the car it comes in? Well, it’s a Golf. Chunky, stylish, brimming with that grey, Teutonic authority which bespeaks rock-solid residuals. It goes where you point it, has a light clutch and positive gearbox and corners with impeccable manners. You may not know it from the badge on the back, but the revolution starts here.
What do you think? Have your say.
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