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What is the best turbo for a 2.0l TFSI? This all depends on what your end goal is with the car. Is the car your day-to-day car, or a fun drive for the weekends? Do you want to use the car for drag racing or even full-track events?
A bit about the TFSI engine.
The TFSI engine found in the Mk5 GTI, Audi 2.0T, and even the Audi S3(CDLA Engine code), Golf 6R is a great engine. They are all basically the same engine just certain changes like conrods, Pistons, and cams. The CDLA engine found in the Audi S3 and the Golf 6R had different cams and compression ratios(9.8:1) to the other engines.
What made the 2.0l TFSI engine great was it was a very powerful engine from the factory. Just by doing some small mods and software, you could get them to around 268Hp(200kW). The issue with the small KO3 turbo on that engine was it ran out of breath on its way to redline. You could see it in the torque curve. The torque increases rapidly from low RPM and quickly drops off again to the top. This made the motor very nippy. Great for a Traffic light to traffic light sprints.
So what is the best and most reliable turbo upgrade for the TFSI?
Well if you are looking for a turbo that will give you a smile on your face every day you drive it the KO4 turbo is the way to go. With this turbo, you can push your car to the max power that you can get with a KO4 turbo and it will last. The engines are strong enough to take what you can through at with a KO4 turbo.
This turbo is still a really nice turbo for day-to-day driving and for Traffic light to traffic light sprints. With the right stage software, there will be little cars on the road that will give you a run for your money. On the engines, in the MK5 platform, you will look at around 335Hp(250kW) and 450Nm torque.
Here are some links for KO4 turbos:
K04 Turbocharger BorgWarner # 53049880064If you can get your hand on a set of cams from the Golf 6R or Audi S3(CDLA engine code) you will be able to get more torque and power from the engine.
Here is some link(s) to Hybrid KO4 turbo(s):
F23T Hybrid TurbochargerBuilding a baby supercar!
This is a subject I really like. There are ways to transform your 2.0L TFSI into a monster that could run with supercars. Yes, I am talking about 450Hp(335kW) and above. This power can be achieved with standard internals on the TFSI engines but at some point, you will have to change to forged internals. Running at these power levels your car will be fairly reliable. It all depends on how hard a driver you are.
There are some tuning houses that supply a full upgrade kit. This means everything is bolt-on. Others only supply some of the parts and you have to fabricate the rest. Going any of these roots will be costly. The deeper you reach into your pocket the better you will be able to build it. Here are some of the upgrades available for the TFSI engines.
APR 2.0T FSI Stage 3 GTX Turbocharger System
This is a nicely sorted-out kit for the TFSI engines. This setup is very reliable as it has been proven. With this kit, you can get anything from 430Hp(320kW) to 476Hp(354kW) depending on what octane fuel you run.
REVO Stage 3 system
REVO doesn’t have a turbo kit for the 2.0 TFSI engine, what they offer is their stage 3 software for the TFSI engine. With the below hardware, you could get in the range of 395Hp(295kW) to 429Hp(320kW) dependent on fuel octane.
- 3071R External Wastegate Turbo Kit with 1bar spring and associated hardware for fitting and installation
- RS4/R8 injectors
- 3.0″Turbo back exhaust without pre-cat and with decat or high-flow catalytic convertor
- Cold Air Intake with correctly scaled MAF housing
- uprated or additional intercooler (S3 uses larger stock IC but additional IC is recommended)
- high-flow mechanical fuel pump
- TTRS low-pressure fuel pump and controller
- Uprated Engine Mounts
- Uprated Brakes
- NGK Iridium Spark Plugs
- Uprated Clutch
- Uprated Rods and Pistons required if you want to run higher boost levels and push the turbo (For best results use stock compression ratio setup)
- Latest revision factory DV
- Latest revision factory PCV
REVO also has stage 4 software for the TFSI engine that will be able to produce 399Hp(298kW) to 490Hp(365kW) depending on fuel octane.
Integrated Engineering IE450T Turbocharger system.
This was a great kit developed by Integrated Engineering. As far as I know, they no longer supply the kit but I would like so talk about it in any case. This kit was able to take the power of the TFSI engine to 450Hp+( 336kW+). They made use of the twin-scroll BorgWarner EFR 6758 turbocharger. In my opinion, if you want to go big turbo on a TFSI engine this is the best turbo to fit on an MK5 Golf GTI and an MK6 Golf R. With this power output this will be best suited of a Golf 6R.
Why do I say this is the best turbo for those engines? This turbo has a similar spool up to a KO4 turbo but it has far better breathing to redline. This means this will give you the perfect sleeper car or baby supercar. Driving normally it will feel like a normal Golf 6R but when you put your foot down it will blow your mind.
Although the kit is no longer available you should be able to find all the parts you need to make up this kit. The software from IE Engineering must also still be available if you want to run their software. Integrated engineering is a great company with quality products.
CTS BOSS Turbocharger kits
The company CTS Turbo, has brought out these nice kits for the TFSI engines. These kits are called the BOSS Kits. They have 3 variants of the turbo. The one is a BOSS 500 which is a Garrett GTX 2867R turbo capable of 500Hp(372kW). The other one is a BOSS 600 which is a Garrett GTX 3071R capable of 600Hp+(447kW+). Lastly, they have the BOSS 700 which makes use of a Garrett GTX 3076R capable of 700Hp(522kW). For these power levels upgrading the internals of the engine is recommended. Custom software mapping may be needed to be able to run these power levels.
Here are links to these turbo kits:
CTS BOSS 500 (Bolt-On Speed Solution) Turbo Kit – GTX2867R: Complete kit with the GTX2867R turbocharger for VWConclusion
These are just some of the options available out there. If you are planning on building a baby supercar. Do your homework first. In the end, it all depends if you want a tire ripper with a lot of HP but not so usable in town or a car with a bit less power but the power is there from the get-go. Both ways could be fun in their own way.
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