A Golf with a 400 bho EA888 inline four is definitely coming. It may not arrive in September, but should be announced around the time Mercedes releases its upgrade AMG A45, which is later this year. How do I know? I wrote to Quattro GMbH when the Audi TT Quattro R420 concept was shown at Geneva in March 2014 and asked what the plans were for this engine and whether it would appear in the RS3. I was told that the RS3 would get the five, as before, but that there would definitely be either a VW or Audi model with the R400 engine. This was later confirmed in an interview with the head of Quattro GmbH in Car Magazine with George Kacher. That interview said that Audi had poached the AMG guy who developed the A45's engine.
Obviously, any new VW or Audi that has 400 or 420 bhp will sit above the RS3. Don't get me wrong, I like the 2.5-litre five very much. It is a hugely charismatic and powerful engine. No question. But it is very heavy, very thirsty and contributes to understeer and excessive tyre wear. The EA888 in the Audi S3 and Golf R is an exceptionally sweet engine and quite a bit lighter. It is probably the best engineered 2.0-litre petrol engine you can get this side of the A45's unit. Obviously it's down on horsepower so less attractive to hardcore enthusiasts.
If Audi persists with the five, they will have to make it cleaner, lighter and more economical. As turbocharging technology reaches its limits, we seem to be seeng 2.0-litre fours and 3.0-litre sixes as benchmark capacities with upper power limits of 400 bhp and 600 bhp respectively. The issue is ensuring the integrity of the engine block when turbos exert so much pressure. It means that a five needs to be as heavy as a six to cope with forces placed upon it. That means a car with more weight over the front wheels.
The other new technology is electric turbocharging where electric power is used to rapidly spool-up the turbo before engine boost kicks-in. This does much to reduce turbo lag. It is already being developed for fours and sixes, but may make a five redundant.
I am very interested to see what the revised Porsche 911 is like come September when the range goes entirely turbo with a new 2.9-litre flat six. This is expected to have electric turbocharging. (Anybody who currently owns an RS3 should consider a base 911, if practicality isn't an issue. The relative costs are not that different when depreciation is factored in).
On the other hand, a Golf or Audi with 400 bhp in a 2.0-litre car would be spectacular - the base 911 only has 350 bhp. While Audi, Volkswagen and Porsche plan their ranges neither Mercedes nor BMW will be sitting around idly. This is a nuclear arms race in the compact category!
Edited by Tailpipe, 22 March 2015 - 08:17 PM.
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