Days ago, we reported that Tata Motors is working on a new 1.2 litre petrol engine that would come equipped with a turbocharger and would be high on fuel economy. This all-new petrol engine will make its public debut with the highly anticipated Tata Vista refresh aka Falcon 4 and the motor would later go on to power many models in Tata’s product portfolio.
Earlier, it was being speculated that the upcoming 1.2-liter turbocharged petrol engine would have a max power of around 100PS. However, it is now being said that in spite of the fact that the 1.2 litre motor would boast of a turbocharger, its max power output would be restricted to just 80PS. This development comes across as fairly interesting, especially due to the fact that the 1.2 litre engines that power the current crop of hatchbacks make more than 80PS of max power in normally aspirated guise.
For example, the K12 normally aspirated 1.2 litre petrol engine that powers the Swift has a max power of 84 bhp while the normally aspirated 1.2 liter iVTEC petrol motor that powers the Honda Brio produces a max power of 88 bhp.
With this, our guess is that while the turbocharged petrol motor from Tata won’t have class leading power figures, it would score highly on drivability and fuel economy. Autocar says that the upcoming engine traces its roots to the 1.2-liter cast-iron cylinder block of the Indica Xeta. However, the folks at Tata Motors have redesigned the block for better stiffness and balance. Also, the upcoming engine will weigh less than the Xeta’s motor and this would be courtesy the all-new cylinder head. Initially, this engine would have a 2 valve head but a 4 valve head is also in the pipeline.
For the upcoming Tata Vista refresh, the 1.2 litre turbocharged engine will come mated to Tata’s 5-speed manual gearbox (TA65), which would, in most probability, will have been significantly updated.
The new engine, along with the Vista refresh, will make its public debut at the Auto Expo 2014.
Source – Autocar