[saket77]

As a thumb rule, divide the stroke by bore. If the result is greater than 1, then good low end torque, else better high end performance. In short, longer stroke generally means better low end torque while a bigger bore means better horsepower and high end performance.

Modern turbos can be an exception of course.

Regards.

[sulivan]

Originally Posted by romeomidhun

Yes, the gen-I Ritz is peppier in lower gears than the current gen Swift.

Very much true, my 2010 Ritz zxi is so fun to drive, 100 in 3rd gear gives enough kick.

[printh]

I think this is shift to customers now preferring better mid and top end performance. One exception is Toyota. All their cars hardly have lag and have excellent low end torque -right from etios to fortuner.

[Doylthippo]

Originally Posted by printh

One exception is Toyota. All their cars hardly have lag and have excellent low end torque -right from etios to fortuner.

Is it ? But, somewhere in this thread it was mentioned that Liva has horrible low end and very sluggish to drive in lower gears.

[sibitg]

I know this is an old thread. I have some observations and clarifications. When I see the specs of cars in US, most of them have torque at high end, say 4500 rpm whether it is Ford or Hyundai. So is there any trend like, India prefers long stroke engines, while rest of the world prefers short stroke engines?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by sibitg

I know this is an old thread. I have some observations and clarifications. When I see the specs of cars in US, most of them have torque at high end, say 4500 rpm whether it is Ford or Hyundai. So is there any trend like, India prefers long stroke engines, while rest of the world prefers short stroke engines?

Torque at high end gives higher top speeds, so it is relevant to highway travel in US.

As far as India is concerned, mainline manufacturers really tune up their international designs. The modern trend is to downsize the engine size and boost the top end with turbo for faster top end speeds, so I doubt they will redesign their engines for higher low end torque. The exceptions may be Indian brands redesigning the engines for SUV with better low end torque, but then they have low volumes that rarely justifies brand new design, unless they get support from the armed forces.

[sibitg]

If you see our Maruti or even Toyota, it is easy to drive in low speeds because of better low end torque, compared to Honda which is difficult in low speeds because of its high end torque. And Honda, whether it is in India or US, it is same - torque at 4500 rpm. But if you see Toyota in US, it has high end torque.

[abhishek46]

Originally Posted by sibitg

If you see our Maruti or even Toyota, it is easy to drive in low speeds because of better low end torque, compared to Honda which is difficult in low speeds because of its high end torque. And Honda, whether it is in India or US, it is same - torque at 4500 rpm. But if you see Toyota in US, it has high end torque.

MSIL cars in the entry segment are tuned for extremely high fuel efficiency.
They have potential to be much more torquey, than what they are today.
Had they been tuned for effortless performance, at the cost of slightly less fuel efficiency, we could have understood the true torquey nature of the 3 Cylinder petrol engines powering them.