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By
EWAN KENNEDY
5 February 2012
The world’s best petrol car engine has just gone on sale in
Australia. Not only did the Fiat 500 TwinAir engine gain the
overall top spot in the 2011 International Engine of the Year
awards, it also took out first place in every segment in which it
was entered.
Particularly notable was that the Fiat engine won the Best Fuel
Economy/Green Engine segment. An area that has previously been
dominated by hybrid cars, with nine wins in the last ten years.
The TwinAir’s green
credentials are impressive; the Fiat engine has consumption
figures of 3.9 litres per hundred kilometres when measured on the
combined cycle. Carbon dioxide production is as low as 92 grams
per km. By way of comparison, the typical small car petrol engine
produces about 150 grams per kilometre. Specialised economy diesel
engines can, just, beat the Fiat’s fuel consumption, but have
higher CO2 readings owing to the dirtier nature of the fuel.
Fiat’s clever engine takes a whole new design approach, having
just two cylinders and a capacity of 0.9 litres (875 cubic
centimetres to be precise).
The biggest change in this, and other TwinAir Fiat engines, is the
way the air is injected into the engine by an electro-hydraulic
valve system that allows the quantity of air to be precisely
metered into the combustion chambers moment by moment. When you
realise an engine uses thousands of litres of air for every one of
petrol you will understand the importance of accurate metering of
the incoming air.
The new Fiat 500
TwinAir engine comes in three formats, though only one is on sale
in Australia at this stage. We get the midrange turbocharged
version that puts out 63 kilowatts of power, and 145 Newton metres
of torque. The latter at a mere 1900 rpm so there is plenty of
pulling power at everyday speeds.
Other engine variants sold in Europe are a 50 kW non-turbo and a
sporting 79 kW turbo with a higher state of tune than the engine
being imported to Oz.
We haven’t been able to road test the new Fiat 500 TwinAir yet,
but will do so within a few weeks and publish our review straight
away. As we already have a four-cylinder Fiat 500 C in our
household the new model will be of particular interest to us.
A problem we find with the Fiat 500 is the large turning circle
caused by a four-cylinder engine being fitted across the front of
such a small car. Unfortunately this won’t change as major
modifications to the front suspension to give the wheels on the
two-cylinder more room to move would be expensive. On the positive
side, the extra underbonnet space on the new two-cylinder car
would leave room for a mild hybrid design that could drop
consumption and emissions even further.
This stunning little
Fiat powerplant has been on sale in Europe for over a year. Its
entry to Australia was delayed due to what appears to have been
rather heated discussions between head office in Italy and the
local importer, Ateco Automotive. The outcome has been favourable
for Australian buyers, with the Fiat 500 TwinAir coming in for
$2000 to $3000 less than the models it replaces.
Despite these price cuts the Fiat 500 range still costs
substantially more than conventional small cars of the same size.
Fiat joins Mini and Volkswagen New Beetle, in asking a price
premium for the image and style of its retro models. Owners of
these models say the comparative rarity of retro designs lifts
them away from the mainstream when driving – and they like that.
The complete Fiat 500 range is:
500 TwinAir 0.9-litre three-door hatch: $22,990 (manual)
500 Twin Dualogic 0.9-litre three-door hatch: $24,990 (automatic)
500C TwinAir 0.9-litre three-door hatch: $25,990 (manual)
500C Twin Dualogic 0.9-litre three-door hatch: $27,990 (automatic)
Note that these prices do not include government or dealer charges.
Contact any Fiat dealer for driveaway prices.
© Copyright
Marque Publishing Company
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