Twin Turbo Vs Bi Turbo

[Spastik_Roach]

Do they both mean the same?

If not, please explain

If they do, tell me what you think sounds better

[BUFU-ZH]

yes they mean the same... Bi turbo is for the most European
Cars and Twin Turbo for Amercan or Asian cars..

For me sounds Bi turbo better than Twin Turbo

[Niko_Fx]

yes they mean the same... Bi turbo is for the most European
Cars and Twin Turbo for Amercan or Asian cars..

For me sounds Bi turbo better than Twin Turbo

I thought they were something different. Something like Twin Turbo activates both turbo at the same time while Bi-Turbo activates one turbo first and after certain speed or rpm's the other one . Or viceversa.

But I don't know nothing about it, just something that I heard.

[Spastik_Roach]

The Audi RS6 is apparently a "Bi-Turbo"

And there is also the Smart Roadster 1.4 Bi-Turbo, which is 2 smart engines put together...

[cp01ae]

I thought they were something different. Something like Twin Turbo activates both turbo at the same time while Bi-Turbo activates one turbo first and after certain speed or rpm's the other one . Or viceversa.

But I don't know nothing about it, just something that I heard.

There is something called a sequential turbo system, it's like you described, one turbo then the other activates, this helps cover the rev-range and gives it less initial turbo-lag. But aside from that I'm pretty sure Bi-Turbo and Twin Turbo mean the same thing (bi means 2). Hope this helps.

[Need4Speed]

From what I know a Twin turbo consists of two turbochargers that each one have their own exhaust manifold.
Exhaust comes out of each manifold, into its turbo, out of the turbo, then exits down through the exhaust pipe.

And a Bi turbo is practically two turbochargers in succession/series, the exhaust passes through one turbocharger and then it then exits the first turbo #1 and enters the exhaust in to the second turbocharger.

That’s what I’ve always thought was the difference between the two, if I’m wrong feel free to correct me.

[DwZX35]

Are you sure? Bi is just a prefix for two, twin is resembling one another, also meaning two. Why would they have a difference, I mean, why not just call successive turbos (as described), successive turbos to avoid confusion, is there a difference in performance?

[henk4]

Bi/Twin turbo's are generally used for V-engines, one turbo serving each cylinder bank. Opel and BMW are now developing a so-called register turbo system, where one turbo takes over from the other at higher revs. See for instance the Opel Astra OPC diesel on this site. Output gains seem to be phenomenal. I have detailed description of the proposed BMW system in German and when I have more time than right now I'll make a english summary.

[Need4Speed]

Are you sure? Bi is just a prefix for two, twin is resembling one another, also meaning two. Why would they have a difference, I mean, why not just call successive turbos (as described), successive turbos to avoid confusion, is there a difference in performance?

Thats what I thought was the difference between the two, and i had heard it from othrs too but like other im not definite and would like to get a definity defenition of the two.

[flawless51]

i know that "bi" means two and so does "twin"......so if you look at it that way, bi-turbo and twin-turbo should be the same thing....but i heard otherwise......i heard that in regular turbos/twin turbos...there is turbo lag (you have to wait a second after accelerating to get all he horsepower) because it doesnt build up pressure immediately....but in a bi-turbo system, it avoids that because it was one regular turbo, and one other one that maintains a constant pressure....something like that

[henk4]

i know that "bi" means two and so does "twin"......so if you look at it that way, bi-turbo and twin-turbo should be the same thing....but i heard otherwise......i heard that in regular turbos/twin turbos...there is turbo lag (you have to wait a second after accelerating to get all he horsepower) because it doesnt build up pressure immediately....but in a bi-turbo system, it avoids that because it was one regular turbo, and one other one that maintains a constant pressure....something like that

This is a matter of inertia, turbolag is bigger when you have to speed up one big turbo in stead of two small ones.

[@wall]

i know that "bi" means two and so does "twin"......so if you look at it that way, bi-turbo and twin-turbo should be the same thing....but i heard otherwise......i heard that in regular turbos/twin turbos...there is turbo lag (you have to wait a second after accelerating to get all he horsepower) because it doesnt build up pressure immediately....but in a bi-turbo system, it avoids that because it was one regular turbo, and one other one that maintains a constant pressure....something like that

From what I know, they are the same thing. The KEY difference is whether they operate sequentially or simultaneously.

A sequential turbo car is where one turbo powers at low rev range and the other turbo powers at higher rev range. An example the Skyline R34. It has a really small ceramic turbo which operates very fast from low revs which is mounted on top of a larger and more powerful ball-bearing turbo; requiring more power to spin up, but providing much more power (this is a twin turbo).

Simultaneous turbos are 2 identical turbos operating at the same time. Typically you will only see this in cars with a greater displacement as they have enough power to spin up the turbos quickly (without lag) e.g. the new CL65 AMG - 6L V12 Bi-Turbo.

Hope this makes sense...

[fpv_gtho]

perhaps Bi-Turbo is just a type of twin turbo, in that you can have 2 different twin turbo setups, one system that starts off with a small turbo then switches to a larger one (sequential) or another system where you just have a turbo on each bank of cylinders, working together (Bi Turbo). any thoughts?

[Spastik_Roach]

Well my guess is twin turbo are two turbos are exactly the same, Bi-turbo is two turbos but they are different

[henk4]

Bi-turbo was a just a name invented by Maserati to indicate that it's car had twin turbo on its V6, each serving one cylinder bank. Don't think too much of it, it's just another name for twin turbo.