Neuspeed needs no introduction for Volkswagen enthusiasts. Suffice it to say that the Neumann family has been building a reputation for quality Volkswagen and Audi tuning products for a quarter century. Twenty years ago, turbo kits for 1.8L eight-valve engines were bread and butter for the Neumanns. The engines responded well and would take seemingly endless abuse. Since 1993, however, Volkswagen's basic engine has been the crossflow 2.0L, designed, some say, more for crash protection than for running strong. There are vast numbers of these engines out there, and despite the clear superiority of the VR6 and the recent rise of the 1.8t, the 2.0L engines comprise the backbone of a large enthusiast market. Unfortunately, there just hasn't been a good way to get serious power out of them. The forced-induction systems that were available seemed cobbled together, or had tuning issues, and lacked the quality that Neuspeed works to make its hallmark.
Then came a big company with a good idea and plenty of money, but even more inertia. In 1998, Toyota Racing Development displayed a prototype supercharger system for the Camry's 3.0-liter V6 engine that consisted of an Eaton Roots-type compressor with an integrated housing and intake manifold. No extra brackets, no hoses going every which way around the engine compartment, no messing around, this was a factory-like installation, with factory-like quality . TRD showed its system to everyone, then seemingly forgot about it. In reality, it was developing the tuning and ensuring reliability to satisfy Toyota's super-conservative legal department.
In the meantime, however, Bill Neumann was inspired and began working with Magnuson Products--the company responsible for aftermarket applications of Eaton superchargers and which engineered much of TRD's Camry system--to develop a similar system for the 2.0L Volkswagen engine. When European Car learned of Neuspeed's project more than a year ago, it was already well in progress.
Popping the hood on this Golf explains the length of that development time. Except for the Neuspeed logo on the manifold, the system looks factory. The supercharger housing and intake manifold are cast as a single unit. The manifold portion resembles the original intake manifold, except that the runners are larger and smoother. It is braced to support the tension of the belt. The new manifold bolts in place of the factory intake, making installation a simple procedure.
The Eaton supercharger is discussed in some detail in "Supercharger Overview" beginning on page 52 of this issue. Neuspeed's supercharger system uses the ball-bearing rotor group from an Eaton P45 blower, and thus achieves the same high efficiency (and reliability good enough for Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Ford and GM). Other tuners have used this same supercharger and, as with factory supercharged vehicles, overdriving the blower with a smaller pulley has proven a popular way to get even more power. Neuspeed's kit includes a seal on the pulley nut, though, so it will be evident if the pulley has been removed. Two things suggest that doing so would be a bad idea anyhow. Experience has shown that the Eaton supercharger loses efficiency as boost is increased, leading to hellish intake temperatures. Also, Neuspeed has taken considerable trouble to tune the engine management, and turning up the boost would throw that effort in the trash.
Speaking of engine management, Aaron Neumann is a rare breed. A certifiable Nice Guy, he is willing to sacrifice the quality of his life for the quality of the products that bear his name. Much of the delay in bringing this kit to market was due to Aaron's desire to have a completely bolt-on, plug-and-play system that he could put in a box and ship--and never have to see it again. The supercharger was originally developed with custom software in the factory computer, but Aaron already spends too much of his time soldering reprogrammed chips into customers' ECUs. He consulted with a firm that makes black box-type systems that could be sold with the kit and require no software changes, but he was unable to get satisfactory results after several months. The supercharger was emissions certified with software, because that was the only way to do it right. If you think shipping your ECU to Neuspeed is inconvenient, think of Aaron soldering them all, at the same time he's trying to develop new products and run a business, and have a little patience.
Neuspeed stated its objective was to have power comparable to the 1.8t, with a much lower pricetag. Enthusiasts who already own a 2.0L car, or can't afford a new car, would be able to achieve the same performance. The dedicated speed addict might buy an older model, or a basic trim level, doing without heavy options such as power accessories and a sunroof, install the Neuspeed blower, and have a fast daily driver, with better handling than the luxury-trimmed 1.8t factory cars, and equal or better acceleration. This scenario is even more appealing when one considers that, for most drivers, the dynamics of the supercharger are preferable to those of the 1.8t. The supercharger provides instant torque, with no lag whatsoever, and no drive-by-wire response issues.
The car Neuspeed built to showcase the supercharger exemplified the stripper concept. As far as we could tell, air conditioning was the only luxury feature, far from the loaded cars Volkswagen normally gives us to test. However, the additional equipment added by Neuspeed kept it from being as light as we expected, tipping the scales at 2,850 lb with a full tank of gas. We imagine the majority of the additional weight comes from the blower itself, the 18-in. cast alloy wheels and thick 25mm front and 28mm rear anti-roll bars. Certainly, we have come a long way from the MK I days.
Driving the Neuspeed supercharged car was exciting (and not only because I had waited more than a year to do so). I like the 1.8t but am becoming tired of the throttle response programmed into the drive-by-wire cars. Volkswagen tried to make a turbo engine that behaved as if it wasn't a turbo engine but simply a larger, naturally aspirated engine, and some would argue has outsmarted itself. In practice, we find that cars with positive-displacement superchargers actually achieve the ideal of seeming to be a naturally aspirated engine of greater displacement.
The Neuspeed car behaved much as I anticipated, with instant response and linear output in relation to accelerator pedal application. Rather than a strong low-rpm surge that fell off rapidly at higher rpm, the Neuspeed car was torquey all around, well balanced and fun to drive. The 2.0L engine is not as smooth and refined as a 1.8t, however, and the Neuspeed cat-back exhaust was louder than I would prefer under load.
The suspension was plenty stiff, with hardly any roll, but the car felt as though its unsprung weight was excessive and tended to dance over especially bumpy surfaces. The cast 18-in. wheels looked like they contained a lot more metal than anything Volkswagen put on originally.
Unfortunately, we didn't have the car long enough to get any acceleration data, but we did strap it to our Dynojet. Running roughly 5 psi from off idle through the midrange, the Neuspeed supercharger basically moved the stock torque curve upward 25 to 35 lb-ft, across the board, hanging on noticeably better than stock at the top end. Peak torque increased from 112.8 lb-ft at 3720 rpm to 140 lb-ft at 3650 rpm, a gain of 27.2 lb-ft, while peak power increased from 95.9 bhp at 5250 rpm to 132.1 bhp at 5700 rpm for a gain of 36.2 hp. The maximum increase was 42.3 bhp at 6280 rpm.
The only bobble was between 2700 and 3400 rpm, where the supercharged car dipped repeatedly. Aaron said this was probably due to knock sensor intervention caused by warmer temperatures. He elaborated, saying the Neuspeed supercharger system was designed to run lower boost levels with more timing advance, giving less thermal load on the engine, lower exhaust gas temperatures and greater overall efficiency.
Neuspeed's power gains are typical of 50-state-legal forced-induction systems. This Eaton supercharger has been applied to 1.6L Honda Civics for a roughly 40-bhp gain, and a turbo system has been certified for only slightly less. On a Nissan 2.0L engine, a smog-legal turbo system has achieved a 53-bhp gain. (All these numbers are as measured at the wheels.) These Japanese engines have four-valve chambers, and thus can be expected to be more efficient than the two-valve Volkswagen. The Volkswagen head is more knock prone and doesn't breathe as well, a rise in boost pressure at high rpm pointing to an airflow restriction somewhere in the system.
We also plugged in data from our archives for a GTI 1.8T, and realized this matchup isn't a fair fight at all. The 20V engine exceeds the 2.0L output at any engine speed, but especially in the first half of the tach. What did we expect to see? The 1.8t runs more boost, with a more efficient compressor and an intercooler, as well as having a head design that is generations more sophisticated. The editor's decision to present this as a shootout may have been a little ambitious.
We are pleased to say that the Neuspeed supercharger is a typical first-class Neuspeed effort. There is finally a good option for 2.0L owners who want to go faster, and not just a little bit. It is not a substitute for the 1.8t engine in ultimate performance, but it has some real advantages in driveability. For enthusiasts on a tighter budget, it will enable a serious vehicle to be put together for less money than a new 1.8T car, and one will have the option of doing without luxury items that slow a car down. Like any Neuspeed product, it was not released to the public until it was done right, but we expect the wait will have been well worth it to those Volkswagen fans who choose to pony up.
The Neuspeed supercharger is one of the best things to happen to VW tuning since a company called Okrasa bolted dual carbs and ported heads to a 36-bhp Bug, effectively doubling its output. The Okrasa kit was well engineered, easy to install and fairly inexpensive--if you wanted your Beetle to go faster, you went to Okrasa.
More than a half century later, the same thing can be said about Neuspeed.
For nearly a year, I badgered Aaron Neumann, Neuspeed's chief engineer, about this kit. And for a year Neumann would say, "Next month, dude...now leave me alone."
What the hell? What's so tough about bolting an airpump to an engine (that's all a supercharger really is).
Questions were answered after the first few minutes behind the wheel. The Neuspeed car behaves like it just rolled off the line at Wolfsburg's skunkwerke. It pulls hard enough to light the front tires (actually, just one; it had no limited slip) and exhibits the same smoothness as our long-term Jetta 1.8t. In a head-to-head drag race, the two cars were neck-and-neck until traction issues left the Neuspeed car spinning its wheels (there are worse problems when it comes to force feeding VWs). Neuspeed's exhaust note, while randy, is the best I've heard for the new Mark IV cars and ranks among one of my favorites of all four-cylinder cars.
But, perhaps the most impressive thing about this supercharger kit is the way it feels, the instantaneous gratification when the throttle is mashed to the floor. Where the 1.8t needs a little time to spool up, the blown car is ready to go...right now!
No, a supercharged 2.0 liter Golf won't blow the doors off a 1.8t GTI--not yet anyway--and it begs the question, why not just buy a 1.8t? If you've got the cash, by all means get one...the damn things rock. If, however, you've spent most of your loot getting into a base car, or maybe have an older 2.0-liter VW, the Neuspeed kit is the most cost-effective way to get reliable (and CARB-certified) performance. I've watched guys throw cams, chips, exhausts, intakes--the full Monty--at their cars and maybe get another 20 bhp. Do the math...Neuspeed's program makes sense.