[aabhimanyu04]

My top two would be:

1. Hyundai i20 Petrol - Turn on the Ac and try overtaking a rikshaw
2. Ford Ecosport Petrol - For the heavy body it has, the torque was just not enough. The car screams hard but does not go anywhere.

[mbhalara]

I would like to add herewith the S-Cross 1.3 DDiS.

Engine is just sufficient, but the vehicle begs for more power especially on curves and bends considering its grip and braking aspects.

Even opening the engine bay, you can notice the empty space and can understand that its overseas siblings are getting the bigger engines.....

[haisaikat]

Mercedes GLA 200D 2.0 Turbo Diesel is grossly under powered in comparison to the 2 litre turbo petrol offering of the same model. Considering its not a mere highway cruiser, rather a sports car outlook vehicle the engine has to be interesting. Of course its sprints well and has impressive 0-100 numbers but for upwards of 40-50 lakh INR segment is that the expectation?

[ashokabs]

The saddest examples are the Tiago, Tigor and now the Altroz. All are great cars in every way except the engine. I think the idea was to get fuel efficiency and low cost- kitna deti hai. This has resulted in a whole range of cars with lousy engines and often lousy gear ratios. The Tiago has a 1:0.75 for the 5th gear which is a shame for a small car which will mainly be driven in the city. It can only pull in this gear at around 2500 rpm or more.

The indian buyer is getting more sophisticated now and wants airbags and other goodies and is willing to pay a price for it. Most of all Indians want a car that is zippy so they can overtake from the wrong side and do all the things that traffic rules do not allow!!

[kkstile]

When Duster petrol CVT was launched for 9.99L ex-showroom in 2017, it seemed like the perfect combination of a well priced 'proper' SUV with sorted mecanicals and a smooth autobox and enthusiastically took the test drive. Oh what an utter disappointment it was! The car simply refused to pick up pace even with foot-to-metal for a l-o-n-g time. Renault should be awarded for screwing up a perfectly capable product with a lame NA petrol with even lamer CVT box. They are finally coming up with a half-decent engine but the horse has bolted.

[headbanger]

What about 1.5L Maruti petrol engine coupled with 4 speed ancient auto gearbox? Even the S cross gets it now. Sad that the same car was launched with a stonker 1.6L engine.

Folks who have this combo can chime in with their perspectives. I have driven this 1.5L petrol engine with manual transmission and it is good. How does the engine fare with the auto gearbox in real world conditions?

[fordday]

Originally Posted by aabhimanyu04

My top two would be:

1. Hyundai i20 Petrol - Turn on the Ac and try overtaking a rikshaw
2. Ford Ecosport Petrol - For the heavy body it has, the torque was just not enough. The car screams hard but does not go anywhere.

ROFL description. I haven't driven either but my assumption was both were scorchers. Maybe this has something to do with my apt guys who owns these and drives like F1 within our complex up to the speed of 20 kmph. Their cars are liberally pasted with all kinds of racing stickers.

[charanreddy]

I have driven the Ford Figo 1 st Gen Petrol quite a bit and if ever a car deserved a better engine, It is this one.

My old ride Chevy Beat Diesel may have made this list, but for what it was : A cheap fuel efficient diesel, I cant expect it to do better .

[Ravi Parwan]

Originally Posted by Samba

Beat this!
Before going out of production, the 1.5L Ambassador dsl produced 35.5 Bhp and 72.9 Nm of torque. The weight of this car was around 1200 kg!

I have driven multiple iterations of the Ambassador in diesel and petrol. till the Isuzu engine came in, it used to put you to sleep while picking up speed. it used to be a struggle to resume speed after braking and overtaking used to require calculation akin to those for taking man on the moon....
but the plus side of all that weight, anemic engine and brakes was that you could really relax in the car at 60-80 km per hour and enjoy the "magic carpet ride" on those bench seats...

Originally Posted by roadrunner_nv

...
...Now the question is, what do the manufacturers do/smoke/get high on while strategizing on such underpowered launches? .... Some of the products are just brilliant except for the engine.

Originally Posted by Hayek

I...A surprising omission is the Honda Jazz - the car sells with a 1.5 l engine in other markets, and was launched here with the sluggish 1.2 l. I remember test driving it back in 2012 - and was shocked that the car struggled to climb flyovers.

Would agree with many of the cars in the first list. the TUV300, the Maruti 1000 (though you could not blame Maruti for that - this was in the license permit Raj when the government decided your engine and chassis combinations), and the original 3 cylinder Polos (assuming the 1.6l Petrol was not also available at launch). ....

I see a number of members lamenting regarding the manufacturers putting puny 1.2 litre engines in cars capable of handling a lot more power. While Hayek rightly pointed out license raj for earlier mistakes, let's not forget the current generation of the monstrosities being introduced in india ( sub 4m, engine capacity <1200 cc) are also a direct result of the convoluted regulations being followed in India. ( I will not even touch upon the 10/15 year scrapping rule ...)
Rather than expressing the capability of the engine in terms of pollution and fuel consumption, the omniscient babus decided they needed to make it clear how much space a car could occupy and what size engine should be used. This policy has resulted in India being flooded by underpowered, developed for india engines that do not find favour anywhere else in the world.
for safety, the best they could think of was HMSL and safety belts for all.
I hope the power to be wake up and stop pandering to the dictats from Maruti. The 1.2 litre engines are perfect for the lightweight cars churned out by Maruti but start showing their limitations as soon as they are put into global car platforms where the safety and stability concerns result in a heavier car.

[DCEite]

The TATA Tigor. A car with rare combination of practicality and good looks, safety (4 STAR NCAP) and decent build.

Only to be let down by the lacklustre petrol engine, which though is sufficiently good in the city, lacks the punch on the highways.

The JTP was a different story, but ended too soon.

[agd19682]

I am surprised as to why the Ertiga didn't make this list while the Ciaz did. The first and second Ertiga iterations are grossly under powered and should have featured in the top five at least, if not three...

[locusjag]

It took me 2 years to admit to myself that my TUV 300 couldn't satisfy my enthusiasm anymore. I've been vocally agonizing about the lack of top-end grunt in its engine for roughly 8 months now.

I have 2 options next-
1) Try out the Racedynamics kit, or,
2) Await a BS 6 TUV 300 Plus and trade up to it

There is a 3rd option - to live with the lack of expressway performance. But the thought depresses me, so it has been chucked out of the window.

I have only seen 2 used TUV 300 plus models in the Chennai market in 2 years. So that's ruled out for me.

Interestingly - I cannot bring myself to even look at any other car. Only a TUV will do. That's how well it suits me in all other respects. This is my situation. I totally agree with this article.

[francisvellara]

People have mentioned the 1.4 TDCi on the old Fiesta/Classic. But there was another, really lethargic engine on offer on the same car.

We had a 2007 Ford Fiesta with the 1.4 Petrol (an engine that came only with the lowest trim level - EXI. The higher ZXI and SXI trims got a much better 1.6). It produced around 80BHP. It was smooth, but boy, did it hate picking up fast.

But then, I suppose it did work on people like us who were shifting up from a Maruti 800 and were absolutely blown away by the sheer creamy smooth ride and the great handling of the Fiesta.

[princenoble]

My addition to the list is Skoda Kodiaq.

2 Liter diesel engine producing 148 would have been sufficient in most cases-but not on a premium 7 seat SUV retailing for about 45 lakhs,

That too, when the same engine has 188 bhp & 235 bhp tunes readily available elsewhere.

[ram.iyer95]

Originally Posted by haisaikat

The Mahindra Xylo is another example, it should have come with the 2.2 litre mHawk for the right match of power to weight factor to carry 7-8 people on board with luggage. Rather the 1.5 diesel actually was not adequate for its purpose.

I think are confusing the Xylo with the Quanto. The Xylo never got a 1.5L diesel engine; it was launched with a 2.5L mEagle diesel producing around 112 BHP and later the 2.2L 120 BHP mHawk was also introduced. It was the Quanto, i.e the chopped sub-4m version of the Xylo that got the 1.5L 3 cylinder diesel.