Volvo's Drive-E Twincharged 4-cylinder

Count us impressed. Not only has Volvo taken the plunge to commit itself currently and in the near future to 4-cylinder only cars (hybrids aside), but they also went somewhere no other carmaker other than Volkswagen has gone and offered a production OEM twincharged engine. That's right, their 4-cylinder engine has both a turbocharger and a supercharger.

Don't bother looking at an image of this engine with
the hood open; it's less exciting than a brick.

That's brilliant! Makes perfect sense on many levels. The next obvious question is; will it work long-term? Only time will answer that very relevant query. Hopefully, we won't be hearing recall numbers and our favorite Swedish company will be heading towards bankruptcy again.

The next wonderment is; how does it perform? Well, considering it's installed in a relatively heavy vehicle, decently. But we have one complaint (you knew we would); it sounds terrible. Listen for yourself. Yuck.