Turbocharging auto

Twin-turbo

The use of twin-turbocharger is a question of both efficiency and packaging. A small engine is of course better to use a single turbo, because it does not produce sufficient exhaust gas to drive 2 turbos efficiently. For larger engines, it is better to use a pair of small turbochargers instead of a big one, because small turbines result in less turbo lag.


But how large an engine needs to go twin-turbo? It depends. When I wrote this article for the first time in 1998, Subaru used twin-turbo on its 2.0-liter boxer engine. Many other car makers like Mitsubishi and Nissan used twin-turbo on engines displacing 2.5-liters or above. As the technology of turbochargers progressed, today's turbochargers achieve much lower inertia and turbo lag than the past. Consequently, the threshold between single and twin-turbo is also lifted. BMW, for example, changed its mainstream 3.0-liter straight-six from twin-turbo to single-turbo in 2009. Apart from a slight compromise in top-end power, it showed no deterioration in response and refinement. However, for performance versions like 1-Series M, BMW still keeps using twin-turbo to deliver the necessary horsepower.

Packaging also governs the use of twin-turbo. For V-shape and boxer engines, it could be a headache to connect all cylinders to a single turbocharger. Twin-turbo can easily avoid the problem. As one turbo needs to serve only one cylinder bank, it can be put in close proxmity to the bank. As a result, the turbo piping can be greatly shortened, saving a lot of space in the engine compartment. Moreover, the shorter pipes lead to less turbo lag. Therefore, almost all turbocharged V-shape and boxer engines on the market employ twin-turbo.

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