Audi have just announced that they will introduce cylinder deactivation, or ‘Cylinder on Demand’ (CoD) technology in Europe and the U.K. This clever cylinder deactivation technology has been around for years in bigger Mercedes-Benz and Chryslers, not forgetting most recently in the VW Group’s 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine, but what about a smaller 4-cylinder? Can it work?
After all, if you’ve got eight cylinders to play with it’s pretty easy to cruise round on partial throttle with just four of them working. When applied to the 4-cylinder engine, the Audi CoD system shuts down the second and third cylinders.
Well, Audi is bringing cylinder deactivation to the 1.4 TSI engines fitted to the A1 and A3. By deactivating two cylinders under low-load conditions between 1 400 and 4 000 r/min, and torque between approximately 25 and 75 Nm, they say their cars will cut fuel use and emissions noticeably. According to Audi, the switch between two cylinder and four cylinder operations takes place in 13 to 35 milliseconds.
Audi say the A1 with the new tech will still get to 100 km/h in 7.9 seconds, but will have an average economy rating of around 4.7 L/100 km, while the 102 kW 1.4-litre TFSI CoD in the A1, offers CO2 emissions of just 109 g/km.
All A1 CoD models come with a 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox, but a 6-speed manual will be made available later. You will be able to have the new 1.4-litre TSI with Cylinder on Demand on the A1, A1 Sportback, A3 and A3 Sportback in all the various versions.
The Audi A3 CoD variant comes with a 6-speed manual gearbox and the same claimed fuel economy figure. By comparison, the standard 1.4 TFSI A3 consumes of 5.2 L/100 km with CO2 emissions of 120 g/km.
We have no doubt, much like their sharing of the MQB platform, that this technology will filter down into the Volkswagen Golf and Polo too, which should make for truly impressive economy performance.
