How good is the VW 20v Turbo??

Just doing some window shopping on pistonheads and came across these two..

http://pistonheads.com/sales/1338866.htm
http://pistonheads.com/sales/1182915.htm

What caught by attention was there both using the VW engine. Now i know that there are a lot of cars in the VW group using it, but is it suited to track?
What would it be like in a kitcar / Lotus 7 replica?
Is there much turbo lag....or can that be 'tuned' out....?

Maybe this should be in the Das Auto Section......

People are going to come along now and tell you it is rubbish, unreliable etc etc.

But think about it, if that was really the case then why are they so popular for transplants? I think they are a great engine. Massive tuning potential with them.

Great engine. Not laggy at all. In the lower 150bhp version at least, which I have, you wouldn't know it was a turbo at all, seems to just work across the entire range - no big turbo kick, and no lag. Makes it sort of nice to drive at both spiritedly and leisurely. -Only "nice" though. It's not going to set your heart racing.

180, 200, 225 bhp though? Different kettle of fish I guess.

there are tuning companies in the uk that specialise in these engines, one had a skoda octavia daily driver running about 700bhp safely with a 1.8 20v turbo VW engine. There was a performance tuner mag pretty much dedicated to the engine a while ago, must dig it out for a look

EDIT: Here is one of their websites...

http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/

And a dyno result...http://www.jbsautodesigns.co.uk/medi...3-equal-length

i love these engines and anyone who says they are shyte either never used one in a light car or has driven a car which wasn't tuned right. On totally standard internals they can push close to 400 hp and 350 torque.

They appear to be able to handle big power then, is there much of a diff between the lower and higher power ones...ecu, diff turbo??

20 Valve head is not strong enough thermal. Cause troubles in engines over 400 BPH

Originally Posted by MotorDevil

They appear to be able to handle big power then, is there much of a diff between the lower and higher power ones...ecu, diff turbo??

the audi s3/tt has a different turbo, ko4 iirc, and obviously ecu map to give it 225bhp as opposed to 150/180bhp, pretty sure its just the difference of an ecu map between the 150 and 180bhp ones

@ superchip says who?

i have 70k on mine running 350+
a buddy f mine has his running 460 in an exige for about 3 years ow without issues.

once you go over 400 all you need is piece ss black nitride coated intake and inconnel exhaust valves and your sorted for 600+

@ Colm, the engine in the skoda was bored out to 1.9

Originally Posted by colm_gti

the audi s3/tt has a different turbo, ko4 iirc, and obviously ecu map to give it 225bhp as opposed to 150/180bhp, pretty sure its just the difference of an ecu map between the 150 and 180bhp ones

150-180 is usually ko3 and ko3s turbos

for big power your looking at injectors, fuel pump, intercooler, pipework, exhaust big arse turbo etc