[Mpower]

Originally Posted by Prabal

The Skoda Octavia 1.9TDi produces 90bhp and 21.41kgm of torque and it weighs 1330kg. The SX4 ZXi DDiS, as I've deduced above, should be making 90bhp and 20.4kgm at a full 100kg less weight. So, the power-to-weight on paper should be a no-brainer.

I haven't heard anybody call the Octy TDi underpowered (kindly don't bring in the VRS here, since we'll stay with the same fruit family!!). Of course, real-life road behaviour may provide two very different experiences between two comparable machines, due to differences in turbo-spooling, gearing, the rolling dia of the wheels, ride and handling (including the steering characteristics) etc. So, all I can say is go drive the car and then decide for yourself. And before passing your final judgement after driving it too, make sure that you have acquainted yourself with the vehicle,s system, so that you can exploit it's characteristics that suit different moods of the driver, by using it's gearing and handling optimally!

Good Analysis! Also note the generally Maruti seem to do a better job of tuning the 1.3 MJD compared to Tata and Fiat. This one is a eco diesel just like the Altis and Linea. But its already 2 years late.

[fiat_tarun]

^^ I actually feel the reason the Maruti's are quicker are not so much to do with the tuning, but with the gearbox and the ratios.

[breezydrive]

Ladies & Gentlemen, and now the award for multi utility of one engine goes to .... 1248 cc multijet/ quadrajet/ ddis ; 'National Engine'

The cars are ..

Punto
Linea
Vista
Manza
Swift
Dzire
SX4

Period!

[COUNSEL]

Originally Posted by breezydrive

Ladies & Gentlemen, and now the award for multi utility of one engine goes to .... 1248 cc multijet/ quadrajet/ ddis ; 'National Engine'

Period!

Add Palio Stile MJD to the list. And those who feel Palio production is stopped, it's NO! Fiat showrooms are still delivering Nov 2010 Manufactured Palio Stile MJD!

SX4's engine performance seems to be linear like Punto/Linea. Many said Maruti knows to tune Fiat's engine better than Fiat! So what does it mean now? Maruti forgot to tune the engine like in Swift Ddis?!!

[Klub Class]

Originally Posted by breezydrive

Ladies & Gentlemen, and now the award for multi utility of one engine goes to .... 1248 cc multijet/ quadrajet/ ddis ; 'National Engine'

You missed to include the following cars :

1) Fiat Palio Stile
2) Fiat 500

[theguy]

Originally Posted by Klub Class

You missed to include the following cars :

1) Fiat Palio Stile
2) Fiat 500

You missed maruti ritz

[sureshkishore]

Got a chance to take the SX4 diesel for a short spin. Since it was an unregistered demo vehicle it was a spin around the service centre yard only. Being a Petrol SX4 Vxi owner. My first initial impression is that the car feels light and on its toes. It pulls away eagerly. NVH and refinement was at par. Saw a VDi version too. Compared to my 07 model the interiors plastics felt were better. Think this upgrade happened in the VVT models onwards. And the Remote Lock was integrated with the key. Service Advisor had no idea on the pricing. But according to him all the 9 cars in transit for the dealership had been sold.

I expect the car to be popular upgrade among Swift DDIs owners. And if the petrol prices continue to soar some petrol heads as well would upgrade.

Now it is 62/litre. and diesel just 41/litre

[neoranjit]

^^ 9 cars sold already ? At this rate, expect a 2-3 month waiting period after the initial launch

[sandeep3in]

Eagerly waiting for the SX4 diesel for an upgrade for my swift DDIS ,

For the people using swift DDIS this would be a right choice to upgrade

Iam just waiting for a TBHP reviews on the car and the comparison with swift DDIS .

When I say about the comparison , what I meant was how well MUL have integrated the MJD with Sx4 diesel .

Having driven Swift DDIS and owning a SWIFT DDIS ,I should say MUL should keep up the benchmark for SX4 Diesel

[opendro]

Originally Posted by Mpower

Good Analysis! Also note the generally Maruti seem to do a better job of tuning the 1.3 MJD compared to Tata and Fiat.

That is what the pseudo-auto-enthusiasts and megazines claim to say. Maruti tuned it for mileage and FIAT tuned it for top speed (though I don't claim that either manufacturers did it intentionally). Maruti had lighter car and so could afford to give a taller gear making it better highway cruiser whereas FIAT had to give shorter gear, which in effect resulted in a fifth gear which can literally redline. As a result FIAT ended up doing more top speed for the same power.

Don't get fooled by the 0-100 timings. For instance, for a similar power to weight ratio DZire DDiS (67 bhp per ton) and Linea MJD (69 bhp per ton in Emotion pk), DZire does 0-100 in 14.32 sec and Linea does in 15.04 sec, while DZire does 0-120 in 23.82 sec while Linea does in 21.30. On the highway, the so-called underpowered-in-team-bhp Linea MJD will leave a Swift or DZire far behind from the word go.

Even a much lower power to weight ratio Punto 75 ps does higher speed than much lighter Swift.

If you are talking about mileage, Linea / Punto can also achieve a lot higher mileage if they stick to similar rpm as Suzuki ones. I have achieved more than 25 Kmpl many times over long drives including dotted cities.

Going back to SX4, SX4 VDI will have a power to weight ratio of 88 ps per ton (93 ps for 1100 Kg, i.e. 70 Kg less than VXi). This itself will be good enough to leave behind even Linea behind. I'm guessing 0-100 in 12.x seconds for the SX4 VDi. This itself brings close to the powerful verna and Vento. Anyways, I'm not going to argue too much on this as we will get the numbers soon out in the megazines.

If you are comparing with SX4 petrol, petrol-heads have to shift down to 4th gear if it wishes to catch a diesel SX4. Otherwise, SX4 diesel is going to smoke the petrol one in normal mode driving.

[rajneeesh]

It is already 17th Feb. Any news related to the launch? Can't wait to see how does MSIl price this beast.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by opendro

If you are comparing with SX4 petrol, petrol-heads have to shift down to 4th gear if it wishes to catch a diesel SX4. Otherwise, SX4 diesel is going to smoke the petrol one in normal mode driving.

What's the point here? That is the characteristic of diesel engines which have better torque. What is so special about SX4 diesel in particular?

And check out the Autocar numbers, Swift and Punto has similar top speed whereas Swift is about 3-4 secs faster to the ton ( talking about diesel).

Linea D does 0-100 in 15 secs. I really don't know how can you expect SX4 to be a whole 3 secs faster than the Linea, given that it will be just a little lighter than the Linea. Don't expect anything better than 14 secs and to think SX4 diesel can match the Vento or Verna in terms of acceleration is just 'building castles in the air'. Let the road tests come and we will see the real numbers.

SX4 diesel will be a practical diesel sedan and should be good VFM (expecting MUL to do a sensible pricing). But to think of it as something (read: extremely powerful and FTD) which it is not trying to be is quite ridiculous.

[KiloAlpha]

SX4 Diesel should now be available for test drive in Bangalore. Spotted TD vehicle in Jayanagar 3rd Block, near Nilgiris, today afternoon. Still on temp plates.

[neoranjit]

I drove one of the TD cars and felt the steering to be very light. Can anyone else, who has TD confirm it ? Or was it just me ?

[opendro]

@adimicra
Let the road test come out as you say. But just to give you an idea of where I'm coming from.

- It is not just about better torque in SX4 diesel compared to SX4 petrol, they are of the same power to weight ratio - about 88 bhp per ton. It is only when SX4 shifts down to 4th gear that SX4 will be able to do 185 Kmph whereas diesel will do 175 or so in 5th gear.

- Linea D (69 ps per ton) does 0-100 in 15 secs just because it cannot reach 100 in 3rd gear and the megazine drivers take a sweet 1 sec to shift the gear. A similar power to weight DZire does in 0-100 14.32 sec because there is no need to shift to 4th gear below 100. You can see the correction happening if you compare 0-120. Linea is 1.52 sec quicker than DZire in 0-120, again because DZire would need to shift to 4th gear whereas Linea has already shifted. So, I'm assuming SX4 to have similar gear ratio as DZire, but has 88 ps per ton. So, if we are comparing with DZire, it has got a full 20 ps extra per ton in SX4 and that gives good enough power to shave off 1.5 sec (at a very conservative figure). And that will make SX4 DDiS 0-100 in 12.82 sec. So, I was not entirely claiming that it would lose whole 3 sec.

I find your idea that 88 ps per ton is not powerful quite ridiculous on the contrary. I have rarely come across a driver who drives as fast as I do and people here sit behind keyboard and keep saying that so and so vehicle is not powerful. It is quite contradictory to reality.

[Edit:] Other cars that have around the same power to weight ratio are Vento diesel, Verna CRDI, Optra Magnum diesel. I'm not claiming that SX4 diesel will beat those cars in acceleration because peak power is not everything.