Concerns about AC performance in 1.0 turbo petrol engines

For smaller capacity engines (around 1.0 litre and below), the AC can have observable impact on the car's performance. There used to be a joke that for the Maruti 800, switching off the AC would give a nitro boost to the pickup.

BHPian Voyager-1 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

We all know that the air conditioning unit draws power from the engine. For smaller capacity engines (around 1.0 litre and below), the AC can have observable impact on the car's performance. There used to be a joke that for the Maruti 800, switching off the AC would give a nitro boost to the pickup.

With the 1.0 litre turbo petrol engines becoming common in the market, do es the reduction in engine size negatively affect the AC performance?

The 1.0 litre turbo petrol engines produce around 100-120 PS power, which is equivalent to 1.5L naturally aspirated engines. But this high power is produced only at high RPMs. Majority of the driving is spent in lower RPMs (3000-3500 and below).

So in this context, what really matters for AC performance?

Here's what BHPian cooldude1988765 had to say on the matter:

When I test drove the Polo 1.0, I didn't notice any perceivable drop in performance.

We used to own an Esteem diesel and the running joke in our family was that we owned the only car in the world with an electronic turbo (which was the AC button). The car made all of some 50 odd bhp, and had a very very effective AC, which felt like it needed around 40bhp of the engine output to function.

I really doubt any of the new age turbo engines would be having this issue.

Here's what BHPian anb had to say on the matter:

AC performance is good in 1.0 L engines. For petrol engines, peak power is produced at high rpm whether it’s an NA petrol or turbo petrol. Pickup is because of the torque produced by the engine. 1.0 L produce much more torque than a 1.5L NA engine between 2000-4000 rpm. So pickup is more for a 1.0 L turbo engine than 1.5 L NA engine.

Check out BHPian comments for more insights and information.