[Aditya]

Tata Altroz : Turbo-Petrol vs Turbo-Diesel

The Tata Altroz is an impressive car. It has good looks, likeable interiors and excellent road manners. Earlier, choosing between the petrol and diesel was easy. The naturally-aspirated petrol was weak and simply didn’t have the go to match the show. Now though, Tata Motors has introduced a turbocharged petrol engine in the hatchback. This engine has enough grunt to make the Altroz move at respectable speeds, although it's no hot hatch. Now, there is not much to choose between the turbo-petrol and turbo-diesel when it comes to performance. The difference in price between the two is Rs. 40,000 - 60,000, depending upon the variant.



If you were to buy the Altroz, which engine would you pick & why?


The 1.2L turbo-petrol produces 109 BHP and 140 Nm. It has good driveability and very little turbo lag. The healthy bottom-end makes the turbo-petrol Altroz an easy car to drive in the city. The focus is more on drivability and practicality, while providing adequate performance. This is a very smooth engine, even as the rpm needle climbs high. Enthusiasts will love the engine note too. Besides, it comes with a Sport mode. However, it is not a high revving motor (merely 5500 rpm rev limit) and when it comes to performance, it's nowhere as explosive as the Polo TSI or even Hyundai's 1.0L turbo. Apart from that, it does not come with an Eco mode and is not as fuel-efficient as the turbo-diesel. Don't forget, the turbo-petrol is available in very few trim levels.



Full review of the Altroz Turbo-Petrol

The 1.5L turbo-diesel puts out 89 BHP and 200 Nm. It has excellent driveability and in the city, you won’t be changing gears too much. On the highway, the turbo-diesel has good mid-range punch, while the engine is among the better sounding diesels too. The car is an effortless cruiser. It comes with an Eco mode and offers superior fuel efficiency than the turbo-petrol. Also remember that diesel is still cheaper than petrol and the turbo-diesel is available in many more variants (compared to the turbo-petrol), right from the base to the top. On the flip side, it is not as easy to start off on a slope compared to the turbo-petrol as the tachometer needle takes a long time to climb from idling revs. The car's performance is adequate, but not exciting. As already mentioned, the turbo-diesel is more expensive to buy. Besides, in certain cities, the diesel car's registration will expire much earlier than the turbo-petrol's.



Full review of the Altroz Turbo-Diesel

[GTO]

Regardless of which engine you choose, I will say that both should have gotten the Nexon's tune with more power and the better 6-speed gearbox. The Altroz is a properly premium hatchback - I'd say more premium than the Nexon too - and deserved the increased power that the Nexon gets.

I have voted for the diesel

- The petrol is fine, but it doesn't rev too high and isn't "hot" at all

- If I'm not going to rev high anyway, I might as well enjoy the practicality of the diesel with its excellent driveability + longer tank range. Depending on the driving conditions, the diesel will be 30% (city) to 100% (driving hard) more fuel efficient. Turbo-petrols are very sensitive to a heavy right foot.

- I enjoyed the diesel's tractable nature more than the turbo-petrol's power delivery.

- Am pretty sure the diesel can be easily remapped to match or beat the Nexon's tune. Will have to check if the gearbox can handle the increased torque though.

[pedrolourenco]

Originally Posted by Aditya

If you were to buy the Altroz, which engine would you pick & why?

Voted for Diesel.
- Price difference is really not that much (However I need to do a detailed cost of ownership for 5 years for both).
- Resale will be better for the Diesel (should I have to sell it early).
- Diesel should have better low end (need to do a back to bad TD to see how it feels in the real world).
- No need to worry about fuel quality in case of a remap.

The 1.2L turbo-petrol produces 109 BHP and 140 Nm.

The 1.5L turbo-diesel puts out 89 BHP and 240 Nm.

Need to check how much each can be bumped up to post a remap.

Originally Posted by GTO

Regardless of which engine you choose, I will say that both should have gotten the Nexon's tune with more power and the better 6-speed gearbox. The Altroz is a properly premium hatchback - I'd say more premium than the Nexon too - and deserved the increased power that the Nexon gets.

+1

Am pretty sure the diesel can be easily remapped to match or beat the Nexon's tune. Will have to check if the gearbox can handle the increased torque though.

I'm waiting to see what the Tuners have on offer for both these engines. I've not heard of any remapped Nexons but I'm sure there must be some. If the tuners have done those, the Altroz should be easy.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

- Price difference is really not that much (However I need to do a detailed cost of ownership for 5 years for both).
- Resale will be better for the Diesel (should I have to sell it early).

So very true! Totally missed that in my post. With a price difference of merely 40000 - 60000 bucks, the diesel is the no-brainer choice. Whatever the incremental EMI cost is, you'll more than make that up in fuel savings. The car will also fetch higher resale & move quicker when its time to sell.

We'll see more of this with turbo-petrols. Traditionally, diesels cost 1 lakh more because they cost more to build (common-rail, direct injection, turbocharger). Well, the newer generation turbo petrols are also direct injection & turbocharged, hence the price difference is negligible from diesel, if at all. The Altroz Petrol still uses the cheaper & older indirect injection though.

[anb]

I will pick diesel. Petrol has only 140 Nm torque. Diesel is faster, better drivability and much higher fuel efficiency.

[arindambasu13]

Would pick up the diesel version. My driving style is more relaxed nowadays and I enjoy the low and mid range torque that a well tuned diesel engine provides. Expressway cruising at comfortable speeds is more my cup of tea than high revving blasts. My cars hardly ever see the redline (yes even the 1.5 iVTEC that I own), I am usually satisfied with the punch that is on offer within 2500-3000 RPM in most instances. That being the case, the diesel is a no-brainer for me especially when the price difference with the turbo petrol is fairly small. Not to mention the much better tank range that the diesel version would invariably provide me on longer drives.

[Researcher]

Voted for the turbo diesel.

When choosing between both from the Tata stable (or Mahindra too), I have always felt the diesels to be more mature than the petrols. I have already experienced a sort of choking in the petrols of Zest, Tiago and Nexon, but their diesels are simply great.

Additionally, with the single digit city fuel efficiency that the Zest and Nexon petrol owners around me claim, the price premium of 40-60 thousands of the turbo diesel over the turbo petrol will be negated in around 20 thousand kilometres in fuel prices alone. For me, it has to be a diesel if it has to be a Tata (JTP being the exception).

[padmrajravi]

Voted for turbo petrol. The NGT alone makes a strong case for turbo petrol. If you are going to use it for at least 10 years, then it should be petrol these days. NGT has proved multiple times that thinking or acting logically is not their cup of tea. Unless it is a heavy SUV or sedan where mileage numbers vary significantly between petrol and diesel, I will choose petrol over diesel.

[Kosfactor]

iTurbo is ancient in comparison to the GDi \ TSi, I see it as a stop gap arrangement while Tata develops a GDi engine and a small enough 6 speed of their own that would fit in this new generation platform for all their future vehicles.

For now Diesel makes more sense.

[aravind.anand]

One thing I find very weird is that the price difference with the same engines (with different states of tune) in the Nexon is more than a lakh. But in case of the Altroz it is a mere 40k ! that alone makes the diesel a much better choice over the iTurbo petrol.

The iTurbo has clearly been priced much higher, to make space for the NA petrol. If not for that lame engine option, the iTurbo could have been priced much lower than it is now!

[DicKy]

Haven't driven the Altroz turbo petrol, but have driven the diesel and liked it.

With the 1.2 NA petrol versions, there is a huge price difference between petrol and diesel. Eventhough I dont particularly like the 1.2l NA, it was pretty hard to justify the 1.5+ lakhs difference, especially since the decently specced diesel variants was touching Nexon price point.

But with the turbo petrol, guess the difference of ~50k is negligible for what is clearly a superior powertrain.

The diesel it is.

[Raghuwire]

Voted for the turbo petrol, as I have already booked it and eagerly waiting for it too. . Coming to why the turbo petrol-
cheaper initial investment, cheaper to maintain. Quieter on the inside, not by much but still. Long term regulatory concern for diesels. Till now our family has owned three petrols, so maybe a bit of resistance to change too.

Coming to the poll, I see that overwhelmingly people have chosen turbo Diesel, but the market sales even with the anemic petrol engine is in the ration 90+ to 10 percent. Shows how far from market realities the forum preferences are!

[mega_wattt]

Originally Posted by GTO

Am pretty sure the diesel can be easily remapped to match or beat the Nexon's tune. Will have to check if the gearbox can handle the increased torque though.

Originally Posted by pedrolourenco

Need to check how much each can be bumped up to post a remap.

Just a wild guess.
Nexon's gearbox is called TA-6300. If we try to make sense of it, my guess would be that 6 means six speed and 300 means its max torque handling capacity i.e. 300Nm.

Now, Altroz Diesel's gearbox is called TA-5260. So, going by the above used logic it is a 5 speed unit that could handle 260Nm of max torque.

If that is correct, then I think a remap is easily possible with Altroz Diesel.

Again, It is a very wild guess, only an insider would be able to confirm that.

[arjab]

Voted for Diesel.
Having a Tiago and Nexon petrol in our family, I can say that the Tata petrol engines have a long way to go in terms of smoothness, revv'-a-bility and frugality.
Also the current crop of 1.2 Tata petrol's take a long time to "open - up" compared to the Suzuki 1.2L, VW(1.0L) and Honda 1.2L gasoline units.

Strangely, the old four pot Tata petrol's in the Indica XETA and even the BOLT Turbo Petrol felt and drove better than the naturally aspirated 3-pot Tiago.

In terms of building low revving, torquey diesels Tata and Mahindra's were always ahead in the experience curve compared to building petrol units. Just drive an Altroz or a Nexon or even the old Tiago diesel and you'll understand what I mean. In fact I would say Mahindra is even a step better. Their latest BS-6 Diesel powertrains in their various vehicles are truly impressive.

[PrasannaDhana]

Turbo diesel anyday for me.

Diesels are economical and the torque is nice too.

I drive puny N/A 1.0 petrols and a 2.2 turbo diesel. Driven hard, there isn't much difference between cost/km.

Smaller turbo diesels are much more economical.