Any noticable turbo lag on the S3?

If you're worried about turbo lag how about an RS5? I'm sure you can find one for peanuts in your area ;)

To be honest that's the only larger model Audi that really interests me. Just couldn't quite manage to convince my missus it was a worthwhile use of £60k of our children's inheritance! I'll keep working on her though...........usually get there in the end :)
 
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I think any car with a turbo gets some lag, but I dont really notice it. Drive it for yourself and see............................
 
Is it as seamless as a twin scroll turbo setup or is it dead between idle and 2000 rpm?
 
I find there enough torque to keep you potting along around 1700rpm and response is excellent above this but any lower and its flat, compared to my remapped 06 2.0tdi diesel its a vast improvement! but the majority of the time I try to keep the revs above 2K plus its a petrol let it rev..:arco:
 
rikia93 said:
I find there enough torque to keep you potting along around 1700rpm and response is excellent above this but any lower and its flat, compared to my remapped 06 2.0tdi diesel its a vast improvement! but the majority of the time I try to keep the revs above 2K plus its a petrol let it rev..:arco:
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I enjoy lugging the engine by shifting gears at 2000 rpm with full throttle. Maybe its because I don't like feeling that the car is running out of reserve power. The car has 280 ft-lbs of torque at 2000 rpm so that shouldn't be much of a problem. Not sure how much torque its got between 1000 and 2000 rpm though.
 
Not sure if serious? :blink: The turbo only kicks in at about 2000rpm on these cars, if you never rev it out a TDI may be better for your driving style.
 
I think the turbo kicks in much earlier than that to be able to produce the torque at lower rpm. These things spin up to 250,000rpm anyway...
 
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Good torque is there from around 1700rpm so turbo lag is not as noticeable in my 8v compared to my 8p and even that wasn't as noticeable as the turbo lag experienced other turbo'd cars. I must add that I am a fan of remaps and this may get one in the future.
 
If you go for S Tronic, there is a way of kicking it if you're at low revs and want to put your foot down unless you are in Dynamic of course, and you won't be at low revs. Haven't noticed any lag issues, but I'm not a turbo efficianado! Far as I'm concerned, goes like s**t off a shovel. I actually nearly scared myself the other day on a straight country lane :)
 
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I know a diesel is much more suited to my driving style but unfortunately we don't have diesel cars in Lebanon only petrol.
 
Yes there is, any turbo car will lag.

But as the torque comes in quite low down (1900 rpm iirc)

Will you notice it in the real world? Absolutely not.
 
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DommyR said:
Yes there is, any turbo car will lag.

But as the torque comes in quite low down (1900 rpm iirc)

Will you notice it in the real world? Absolutely not.
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Glad to hear that. I was worried I would feel an input throttle lag every time i stepped on the gas.
 
8P Diesel...*shudders in fear* always :'(

8P V6, power was always available.

8V, plenty of power at mid to high end but as with all turbo's you have to get used to it and know when to move, have to say it's managed very well on the S3.

To try and explain a practical example at a roundabout in the 8P V6 as soon as you know you can go in that very instant you're off at slow, medium or fast. With the 8V turbo and DSG you know if you put your foot down it's actually going to take longer to move over creeping then pushing 1/4 to 1/2 down on the gas, but you know if you do put your foot fully down you'll well.."fly".

:oops:
 
DommyR said:
Yes there is, any turbo car will lag.

But as the torque comes in quite low down (1900 rpm iirc)

Will you notice it in the real world? Absolutely not.
Click to expand...


Depends what you're coming from. Compared to my old V6, there's loads of turbo lag ;)
 
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A3_Rider said:
8P Diesel...*shudders in fear* always :'(

8P V6, power was always available.

8V, plenty of power at mid to high end but as with all turbo's you have to get used to it and know when to move, have to say it's managed very well on the S3.

To try and explain a practical example at a roundabout in the 8P V6 as soon as you know you can go in that very instant you're off at slow, medium or fast. With the 8V turbo and DSG you know if you put your foot down it's actually going to take longer to move over creeping then pushing 1/4 to 1/2 down on the gas, but you know if you do put your foot fully down you'll well.."fly".

:oops:
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Absolutely - I miss grunt of the V6 vs. the S3 turbo 4 cylinder; torque doesn't tell the whole story here. However, it's just a case of getting used to the turbo lag. I'm not really a good judge of how "laggy" the S3 is vs. other cars, as it's my first turbo car. I seem to be talking myself back into an RS3...
 
Are you concerned about turbo lag OR are you concerned about being off boost and the spool up time/revs required before it gets a shift on .. as they are not the same thing ..?
 
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TheFiftheElement said:
Are you concerned about turbo lag OR are you concerned about being off boost and the spool up time/revs required before it gets a shift on .. as they are not the same thing ..?
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I don't know what you are talking about exactly but now that I have an S3 I can tell there is a lot of turbo lag. In other words, it takes a long time probably a second at least for the boost to reach maximum level in any given gear. That times shortens with higher rpms obviously since there is more exhaust gas flow to spin the turbo faster.

I does bother me at times when i want to jump into an empty space on the road for example and I definitely miss the sound and response of my other V6 cars but then again they aren't nearly as quick as this pocket rocket.

I'm guessing a new intake and downpipe will help with turbo spool up time?
 
As far as I understand it, lag is the time delay between pressing the accelerator and the turbo delivering boost when the engine speed is above the boost threshold i.e. so this could be you're at a steady @4.5K revs and press the accelerator, or you're changing gears at max speed. There will be a small delay in asking for boost and getting it, but the turbo is spinning quickly enough to deliver +ve boost.

An example would be you're waiting for a clear opportunity to overtake, sitting at 50 in 3rd. The road clears and you hit the accelerator, there will be a delay asking for acceleration and getting it. That's lag. Usually feels like a soft throttle response. The S3 (and almost any turbo car) has this (I find it frustrating).

Being off boost/not over boost threshold, is waiting for the turbo to actually spool up, so it's not spinning quickly enough to produce positive boost i.e. mashing the throttle at tickover.

So, in an older Subaru, you might have to wait until @3.5K revs for the turbo to be spinning quickly enough to produce boost. Most folk seems to think this is turbo lag, it's not, it's off boost or you haven't hit the boost threshold.

It's a bit anal I guess, but I always get annoyed when people describe Subaru's as laggy, they're not particularly. They take some time/revs for the turbo to spool, so can be caught off boost .. but once it's spinning it's not particularly laggy for a turbo engine.

Good article linked below:
http://blog.nulon.com.au/2014/05/turbochargers-turbo-lag-vs-boost-threshold/
 
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TheFiftheElement said:
As far as I understand it, lag is the time delay between pressing the accelerator and the turbo delivering boost when the engine speed is above the boost threshold i.e. so this could be you're at a steady @4.5K revs and press the accelerator, or you're changing gears at max speed. There will be a small delay in asking for boost and getting it, but the turbo is spinning quickly enough to deliver +ve boost.

An example would be you're waiting for a clear opportunity to overtake, sitting at 50 in 3rd. The road clears and you hit the accelerator, there will be a delay asking for acceleration and getting it. That's lag. Usually feels like a soft throttle response. The S3 (and almost any turbo car) has this (I find it frustrating).

Being off boost/not over boost threshold, is waiting for the turbo to actually spool up, so it's not spinning quickly enough to produce positive boost i.e. mashing the throttle at tickover.

So, in an older Subaru, you might have to wait until @3.5K revs for the turbo to be spinning quickly enough to produce boost. Most folk seems to think this is turbo lag, it's not, it's off boost or you haven't hit the boost threshold.

It's a bit anal I guess, but I always get annoyed when people describe Subaru's as laggy, they're not particularly. They take some time/revs for the turbo to spool, so can be caught off boost .. but once it's spinning it's not particularly laggy for a turbo engine.

Good article linked below:
http://blog.nulon.com.au/2014/05/turbochargers-turbo-lag-vs-boost-threshold/
Click to expand...

Ok so say I'm in 6th gear at 1700 rpm @ whatever speed that translates to going uphill and I apply full throttle while remaining in 6th gear, the boost gauge will not be completely lit up until after 2000 rpm. I think this is what you are talking about being on boost or off of boost.

Achieving maximum boost when flooring the pedal in 6th gear at 2000 rpm will take much longer than at 5000 rpm for example due to the higher exhaust flow at the latter speed so the turbo will spool up faster and create boost faster so you get a more responsive engine.

Now my question is how can I get a more responsive engine? New intake and a down pipe perhaps?
 
@drummerdimitri - yes that's exactly it, off boost vs boost threshold ..

I would have thought intake/downpipe/exhaust would be the first modification to make it more responsive, but that doesn't always work if they aren't well designed. I'm sure Audi have designed a pretty good system as standard. An exhaust might be bigger bore or flow better but that doesn't always translate to a making the turbo more responsive. An engine remap (if it's not just mapped for more top end power) could help too. I'm sure there are far more knowledgeable people on here than me.

With my Subaru's they all had decat downpipes, more noisy backboxes, different air filters and remaps. The downpipe alone made the turbo spool around 500 revs earlier than standard.

The correct answer though is to replace your engine with a 5.0 v8 :yum:
 
You've already got a pretty small turbo on the car and whilst changes to the exhaust may make a little bit of difference I don't think you'll find major improvements.

Let's be sensible about this and say that hitting the boost threshold at 2000rpm is actually pretty good and frankly as much as you could expect with a 2.0L engine that doesn't happen to be a diesel which may produce useful boost a few hundred rpm earlier.

A remap would be useful but will not shift the boost curve down the rpm range.
 
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