GolfGTIforum.co.uk
Model specific boards => Golf mk7 => Topic started by: mcmaddy on 10 October 2016, 22:24
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http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-reviews/volkswagen/vw-golf-gti-by-mahle-12-litre-3cyl-prototype-2016-review/
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Good find.
Interesting reading.
That engine would be amazing in a Polo!
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We'll have to wait for those real world economy figures. Downsized engines perform very well in test conditions for fuel economy (and emissions - less fuel used = less CO2). In the real world though, a small engine being pushed hard all the time doesn"t usuall give much real benefit. Ford's "miracle"140ps 1 litre unit in the Fiesta is quite thirsty in reality and my wife's A1 1.6TDI 116ps is barely more economical than the A3 Saloon 2.0TDI 150ps I had as a courtesy car recently (there was no more than 2mpg in it).
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Its an interesting piece for sure, my only comment really is that there is a big difference between making something work and having a design that is robust enough for mass production - when I say robust, I mean isn't going to cost the manufacturer a fortune.
At every major stage of miniaturisation there are usually associated production issues.
I remember the first attempts at putting diesels into modern cars...
Re the supposed fuel economy gains - maybe its not about a couple of mpg improvement on a single vehicle, maybe its about the environmental effect of 500,000 vehicles with 2mpg improvement over ~3 years... also the Co2 figure (for both the manufacturer's CO2 targets (which they all have) and the consumer in pollution tax).
I think a lot of petrol heads look at cars in a one dimensional way, when its much more complex.
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Interesting piece! Did anyone else notice the quoted weight? 1545kg?! Surely not...
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The Polo GTI used to have a 1.4 Supercharged engine. Many users reported issues with it consuming a lot of oil. It was replaced with a more powerful and economical 1.8 engine.
It will be interesting to see what filters down into actual production cars. Audi are using 1.8 engines with Miller cycle technology to improve economy. The new 1.5 litre petrol engine may have a variable turbo - currently used by Porsche. The variable turbo is supposed to flatten the power/torque curve. It would be nice to see those 2 technologies combined in a mass produced VAG engine.
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Interesting read. The 1.4 TSI (160) engine in the early Scirocco worked on a similar principle - supercharger from 1500rpm to deal with turbocharger low power and lag at low revs. Supercharger provides varying amounts of power up to 3500rpm then turbo only. Difference is that the supercharger is engine belt powered via a magnetic clutch rather than electric motor. The engine had some problems causing engine rebuilds - low spec pistons that cracked, plug gap initially incorrect giving misfires from new that required different spec plugs and an ECU flash (but not the oil consumption problems of the 1.4 Polo GTI) and all took VW sometime to sort out that I think was probably because of insufficient pre-production testing. Economy figures did not live up to promises with little difference between this engine and the Mk6 GTI. Stage 1 tune can produce over 200bhp up from 160bhp.
Not sure how durable small engines producing large power will be though?
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The Polo GTI used to have a 1.4 Supercharged engine. Many users reported issues with it consuming a lot of oil. It was replaced with a more powerful and economical 1.8 engine.
It was horrendously unreliable - it was a 1.4TSI twin charge, with the Supercharger kicking in and out on a clutch before the turbo was fully spun up, also used in the Golf and Scirocco in 170 and 160ps flavours. cracked piston crowns from mistimed detonations was a big issue
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Agreed the 1.4 twin charge motor was a pup. A colleague had blown valves and a new engine at 30K miles. This 3 cylinder motor would work well in the Up! and as the car is fairly cheap it won't matter (to some) if the head blows off at 60K miles.
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A next gen ultra light weight 4wd system would be great with this. A Polo R maybe??
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A next gen ultra light weight 4wd system would be great with this. A Polo R maybe??
That would be interesting! Test drove a Polo GTI recently and that goes well. About the same size as the MK1 which I remember and am old enough to have had a test drive but not old enough to have had the money to buy one!!
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It's all well and good getting a lot of power from a small engine, but its having to work harder to do it, what would service intervals be like, i would expect it would need plenty of maintenance to keep it happy.