VW TSI & DSG – Evolution turns Revolution
The motoring media has just returned from a very exciting drive from Kuala Lumpur to Tg Jara Terengganu in the latest cars form Volkswagen Malaysia, the 1.2 litre Polo TSI, the 1.4 litre Golf TSI, and the 1.4 litre Scirocco TSI – do not let the relatively small engine capacities mislead you – these cars are all pocket rockets, and spell fun and excitement for anyone who chooses to be behind the wheels of one.
As a result of higher fuel prices all over the world, car makers, especially the ones in Europe, where the price of a litre of fuel is about 1.2 Euros (about RM4.60 per litre,) and threatening to go up very soon in the near future, are looking seriously at down-sizing engines to make cars more economical. Down-sizing is one thing, but just as important is to maintain power output while maintaining fuel economy. At the other end of the scale, cars do tend to grow with each model, as manufacturers try to continue making their cars more appealing to their customers, and to meet their customers’ requirements.
One of the obvious ways to go is to put turbo chargers into the cars to boost the power, and with today’s very much improved chip technology, the level of control available for the engine management systems has grown in leaps and bounds – coupled with vast improvements in material and fuel injection technology – today’s cars are more fuel efficient and deliver more power.
Many of the European car makers are indeed taking this direction – as can be seen from the number of turbo charged cars making their way into the market. Mercedes-Benz has a very good 1.8 litre turbo charged engine, and so does Peugeot, who share a 1.6 litre turbo engine with Mini. The ones who are at the forefront in this field appear to be Volkswagen, and the Volkswagen Group have a series of turbo charged engines that are used throughout the many brands under the Volkswagen Group umbrella.
What has been the result of evolution in the car industry now seems to have become a revolution of the same, at least as far as Volkswagen is concerned. This is so because, other than having the engine technology called TSI, Volkswagen is also the developer of the DSG, the latest innovation in transmissions. When the two are put together in one car, it spells a revolution in driving dynamics – once you get into one, you don’t want to get out.
Of the three car we tested, the little Polo had a 1.2 litre turbo engine coupled to a 7-speed DSG gearbox – with 105 horsepower, and more importantly, 175 Nm of torque available in full from as low as 1,500 rpm, the car rockets from zero to 100 kilometres per hour in 9.0 seconds flat – this beats some of the 1.8 litre and 2.0 litre cars available in the market. The DSG gearbox has the flexibility of an automatic gearbox, yet has none of the disadvantages associated to transmission slip – it is actually two manual gearboxes put together, and at any one time two gears are engage, ready to swing into action on demand – you get a smooth, seamless shift characteristic, and no transmission slip.
The Golf 1.4 TSI has a slightly larger 1.4 litre engine (we have to state the obvious, because some car makers have engine sizes that do not correspond to the model numbers) that is not only turbo charged, but has a mechanically driven supercharger built into the system as well. The supercharger ‘fills’ in the flat spots before the turbocharger comes into play – whatever little lag there may have been in the turbo charger is eliminated, and the 1.4 TSI develops a whopping 160 horsepower – this power, together with the massive torque of 240Nm, available from 1.500 rpm in full, through to 4,500 makes much larger capacity cars eat dust.
The Scirocco has the same engine as the Golf 1.4 TSI, and also carries the same 7-speed DSG transmission. The Scirocco rides lower, and the suspension is tuned for a more sports-like performance. The result is a car that will appeal to driving enthusiasts young and old alike, due to its excellent high speed handling characteristics.
The Golf and the Scirocco are also available with 2.0 litre TSI engines for those who want much more than 160 horses and 240 NM of torque, but what is amazing about the 1.4 litre TSI engines when combined with the 7-speed DSG is the new paradigms of performance hitherto never experienced before. Similarly, the 1.2 litre Polo is a revelation to people who jump from a conventional 1.2 or 1.3 litre car into it.
Truly, the TSI and DSG are set to revolutionise the auto industry – Volkswagen have start this revolution – it will be interesting to see who else will follow, and when!
