The Golf GT TSI looks relatively pedestrian, merely sporting different wheels and front bumper cover from the GTi Version. However, the motor that the TSI uses is anything from ordinary. While oem turbocharged motors are nothing new (neither are oem supercharged engines), the TSI is both supercharged and turbocharged! This setup is affectionatelly called twincharging and it not a new concept by a long shot – twincharging was used on the Lancia S4 back in the 1980’s.

Benefits of a twincharged setup seem obvious – midrange to top end power form a good sized turbocharger without the pesky lag that is usually associated with these size turbos. A supercharger (usually roots type) provides the boost from the low range which also helps spool up the turbo faster. After the turbocharger starts providing the boost, the supercharger unit is kept under control by a clutch pack on the pully (similar to AC compressors and some engine fans). Using this technology, Volkswagen manages to squeeze out 170 horsepower out of a 1.4 liter engine.

Twincharging has some obvious downfalls though – turbo setups are hard enough to work with sometimes, good luck working on a Mazda FD RX7’s or Nissan 300ZX twin turbo. Adding a supercharger to the equation will only compound difficulty when time comes to service the twincharged engine. However, the benefits seem to far outweigh the downfalls so we all hope to see twincharging being used in more performance oriented applications in the future!