No loss of power in Fiat's economy drive

Fiat have wrapped an impressive amount of power into its new 2-cylinder petrol engine but it comes at a price

WITH downsizing becoming de rigeur these days, Fiat reckons it has found a solution to emissions and fuel economy, without sacrificing power. And that is by taking away some cylinders. We have had the four-cylinder 500 model. Now we have the two-cylinder version.

Having a two-cylinder engine isn’t new, the original Fiat 500 was powered by such an engine, but it is certainly a novelty today. Fiat reckons that an upcoming set of regulations, the future European Emissions Standard (Euro 6) which comes into effect in 2014 will be much tougher on diesel engines and there will be a need for cleaner and more fuel-efficient petrol engines. That’s where its new two-cylinder might just be the answer.

There are three power outputs for this engine: a 65bhp unit and a 105bhp. A mid-range option is the 85bhp unit with 145Nm of torque. This is the engine we tested at launch.

Using a small turbocharger to help it along, this tiny engine is 23 per cent shorter and 10 per cent lighter than an equivalent four-cylinder engine. Such is the amount of space left in the engine bay, even in the diminutive 500, that Fiat says they could pair this engine with an electric motor, to make a mild hybrid in the future.

MultiAir uses electro-hydraulic valve management system to reduce fuel consumption by controlling air directly via the inlet valves (without using the throttle). It reduces polluting emissions (thanks to combustion control) and also improves performance.

That’s the technical bit. The result is that this new two-cylinder is 23 per cent more powerful than the 1.2-litre 8v which is the entry-level engine the 500 range yet offers 30 per cent better performance. In fact, power is equivalent to the 1.4-litre 16v version, yet has 30 per cent lower fuel consumption.

Emissions are just 95g/km – even lower with the Dualogic automatic at just 92g/km and fuel economy is impressive too, at 4.1 L/100km (68.8mpg). The addition of Stop/Start technology has helped to get these impressive results too.

There is a price to pay, however. When you take away cylinders you take away smoothness and we know from driving buzzy little three-cylinder cars that this can start to gnaw away at your mind.

So what will it be like with just two? Well, it is pretty noisy. Not that any of the 500s are all that quiet, with the engine living so close to the front of your face, but you get two engine notes in the new two-cylinder – one which sounds a lot like there is a hole in the exhaust and another, when the turbo is whirring, like there is a gust of wind blowing through the cabin. It isn’t an objectionable noise, but it certainly doesn’t make the car sound all that refined.

On the plus side the performance is impressive. With 0-100km/h taking just 11 seconds and a top speed of 173km/h possible it’s 3.5 seconds faster to 100km/h than the Punto Evo and almost 20km/h faster, but crucially with much better torque.

The torque comes in really low down with this engine, getting all 145Nm at just 1,900rpm making acceleration impressive. On the motorway the noise of the little two-cylinder is quite intrusive, but as a city car it works a treat. There is an Eco mode, which is used to ensure optimum fuel economy and this limits torque to 100Nm.

Compared to the 1.2-litre 8v petrol engine that we already know, this engine beats it into submission because whatever you might say about the noise, it offers much better performance and improved emissions. The difficulty might be that it isn’t going to be cheap. Expect it to be above the price of the 1.2 8v engine and similar in price to the diesel.

The diesel is not even on the Irish price list anymore, so unless Fiat decide to replace the 1.2 8v with this two-cylinder, then it might just be ignored by our market, where, as yet, there is still no incentive to drive a car with emissions of less than 100g/km.

With the 1.2-litre 500 starting from €12,995 in Ireland, this new unit, which goes on sale in September could cost about €1,000 more, but this would be offset in part by the Government scrappage scheme, making this a lot of power and greater fuel economy for not a lot of money.

Factfile

Fiat 500 TwinAir

Engine: 900cc two-cylinder turbo petrol putting out 85bhp and 145Nm of torque

Performance: 0-100km/h 11 seconds

Max speed:173km/h

Fuel economy:4.1 l/100km

CO2 emissions:95g/km

Motor tax band:A

Annual road tax: €104

Price:around €13,500

On Sale:September 2010