The air won't get more compressed by a larger intercooler,
I didn't say that, at least I didn't want to. Bigger IC mean bigger capacity,
meaning more air. In highly dynamic situations = quick change of load, which
is described by "responsiveness" describes, this increased air volume requires
more time to fill. As mentioned before, it's not s significient difference between
stock ICs since no stock IC is really that huge to cause issues. Slick's list suggests
that the 1.8 TSI's IC could be another 10 % smaller compared to the GTI's IC.
Guess all factory ICs share the same frontal area, while thickness varies.
it will expand to fill the larger volume of the intercooler.
The air will "expand"?
When air is cooled down, the opposite happens. That's
why ICs are used.
I understand your point, though. If the stock intercooler poses a significant restriction to flow, than it's possible for a larger cross section to help reduce the restriction. Otherwise, the larger volume should reduce responsiveness.
Alright.
Outside of that, I can only go by what I felt. It's not a huge difference, but it was something I noticed via butt dyno.
You know about butt dynos . . .