Advanced EA888 powers latest Golf R

The latest Golf R unveiled by Volkswagen has a more advanced version of the EA888 four-cylinder turbocharged and direct-injection 2-litre gasoline engine fitted to the new Golf GTI.

Compared to the 227bhp GTI engine, VW’s engineers have boosted power by 69bhp to 296bhp which is delivered at 5500rev/min, thus creating one of the most powerful four-cylinder production engines in the world.

Maximum torque has been increased by 22lbft to 280lbft which is now available over a broad speed band from 1800 to 5500rev/min. To attain this output, the Golf R's 1.984-litre engine was subjected to a motorsports-style development programme.

The following components were modified or completely redesigned compared to the GTI engine: the cylinder head (together with exhaust valves, valve seats, and springs), pistons, high-pressure injection valves, and turbocharger.

According to a Volkswagen source, the cylinder block is the same as the block of the latest GTi, in which case this would suggest it is produced from compacted graphite iron (CGI), as already revealed in autoindustrynewsletter.blogspot.co.uk - 3 June 2013. VW has yet to reveal the name of the foundry supplying its engine plant with CGI cylinder blocks. 

Many of the EA888 series engines have innovative engineering solutions such as water-cooled exhaust gas channels running through the cylinder head to the turbocharger (to reduce efficiently full-load fuel consumption) and a dual injection system with direct injection and multi-port injection.

Thanks to its new fully-electronic coolant control system, the Golf R's TSI engine has much more efficient thermal management with a reduced warm-up phase; this reduces frictional losses and fuel consumption.

In addition, the TSI engine has variable valve timing on intake and exhaust sides, as well as two-stage exhaust-valve lift. This enables optimal control of the charge exchange process for better performance, fuel economy and low emissions.

The arrival of the latest Golf R means that Volkswagen is continuing its Golf product offensive. Like all three previous flagship models in the range , the new Golf R transfers its turbocharged power to the road through a permanent all-wheel drive system; in this case, the latest version of the 4MOTION system with a fifth-generation Haldex coupling.

To ensure high calibre chassis dynamics, the car has a new sport suspension, progressive variable-ratio steering, and a stability control system ('ESC Sport') which can now be deactivated for track driving. Other highlights include the optional DCC (dynamic chassis control) system that features a Race mode. 

With a manual transmission, the Golf R can reach 62 mile/h from rest in 5.3s, an improvement of 0.4 sec over the previous Golf R. With the DSG dual-clutch automatic transmission, the car completes the sprint in just 4.9s. The Golf R's top speed is electronically limited to 155mile/h.