Hey Twincharger! (Part I)
A 1.4-litre engine doesn't look particularly sporty, but this one has a trick up its sleeve: it's fitted with both a turbocharger and a supercharger. This is an unusual arrangement as engines usually only feature either a turbocharger or a supercharger. Both help the engine generate more power by shoving more air in, but do so in different ways.
Because turbochargers are driven by exhaust gases they require some revs to do their thing. This leads many drivers to complain about a "hole" or "lag" at low revs as they're waiting for the turbo kick in and deliver its added performance. Superchargers, on the other hand, are driven by the engine itself and work best at lower revs.
The Twincharger combines the two and is quite simply the highlight of the car. It has 125 kilowatts of power and 240 Netown-metres of torque. That's as much power and more torque than can be found in the 2.5-litre engine in the Mazda 6. Hidden beneath a shroud of anonymous plastic is an engine fully deserving of its class win at the 2008 edition of the International Engine of the Year awards.
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