|
This summer, the popular Fiat 500 subcompact will have a
new, tiny engine option - and it will be the smallest displacement
gasoline engine available in any car in Europe - a 900cc,
turbocharged 2-cylinder with 85 horsepower.
By taking the current trend of engine downsizing and then
spitting on its tired carcass as it passes it on the first
lap, Fiat is hoping to take fuel economy and CO2
emissions to new levels.
However, as is often muttered by Americans in the know after
these sort of announcements, the engine will, most likely,
only be available in Europe, even with rumours of the 500
eventually making it to US shores.
Regardless, the announcement follows a long tradition of
Fiat making small 2-cylinder engines a tradition that goes
back to the 1930s and 1950s. Although fuel economy numbers
for the tiny beast have yet to be released, they are likely
to be very high, perhaps even above 50 mpg. Fiat has also
been quoted as saying the engine will emit less than 100g/km
of carbon dioxide.
The concept of combining a small displacement engine with
a turbocharger to mimic the horsepower of a much larger engine
is not a new one. Fiat's advantage, however, is that, with
their new MultiAir technology, they can tune the engine to
maximise low-end torque-providing zippy low-end acceleration
even with the relatively low horsepower.
Fiat's TwinAir engine technology is flexible enough that
Fiat is planning on releasing 3 versions of the same 2 cylinder
engine - a non-turbocharged 65 HP variant, the 85 HP and a
more powerful turbocharged 105 HP.
In addition, the engine is built to be able to run on both
compressed natural gas (CNG) or gasoline.
|
