An all-new three-cylinder turbocharged petrol engine will be added to the Vauxhall Adam line-up next year.
The 1.0-litre unit, which was revealed at the Frankfurt motor show, is the first in Vauxhall's new SGE (Small Gasoline Engine) family and will spawn other lightweight aluminium three and four-cylinder petrol engines of between 1.0 and 1.6 litres.
Vauxhall's 1.0-litre Adam produces 113bhp and 122lb ft of torque (available at 1800-4700rpm), and will partner a new six-speed gearbox.
The new 1.0-litre engine, which has a lightweight aluminium cylinder block, uses direct injection and continuously variable valve timing to help deliver the required performance and efficiency. Vauxhall expects the engine, which is designed to work with start-stop technology, to produce emissions below 100g/km in all of its applications.
Countering the typical offbeat running characteristics of a three-cylinder engine is a chain-driven balancer shaft mounted in the sump. Noise reduction features include acoustically-optimised engine covers, a specially tuned intake system and a low-hiss turbocharger compressor.
Refinement is said to match a four-pot’s, while Adam models equiped with the engine will return almost 70mpg.
is claimed to beat the 44.1mpg of the Vauxhall Astra’s naturally aspirated 1.6-litre petrol engine by 20 per cent, suggesting an combined fuel consumption of around 53mpg.
"In developing this small engine, we not only set out to to minimise fuel consumption and CO2 emissions but we also wanted to demonstrate that three cylinders can be just as refined as four or more," said Dr. Matthias Alt, chief engineer of Vauxhall's Small Gasoline Engines division.
Vauxhall/Opel says this is one of 13 new engines introduced between 2012 and 2016.
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A neighbour of mine who is
A neighbour of mine who is a Dealer Principal for a local Vauxhall dealer group tells me that whilst they are actually quite good cars, probably the best in the current Vauxhall line up they are proving difficult to sell, men don't want to be seen in them, older women feel they are too small and it leaves only younger women, and they're proving difficult to steer away from DS3's and Minis.
Marc wrote:A neighbour of
A very shrewd individual I feel.
They are certainly the sort of vehicle men are unlikely to want to be spotted in but the same is said of the FIAT 500 which sells well and is about the same size. Trouble it looks a bit like a 500 born "on the wrong side of the blanket" with a bit of A.1 and DS3 in the bloodline and perhaps those ultra silly model and paint names are indeed a turn-off.
What makes people buy cars, apart from price? Motoring journalists who crank on about the handling prowess of, say, a DS3 or Mini are imposing their own values on those of a large proportion of the customers. I know slightly a DS3 owner who is a grandmother. She bought the particular car after seeing it in the showroom because the colour reminded her of her house interior! The car chosen had to accomodate her grandchild in her baby seat plus the usual kit, the little girl's parents and a day's shopping. None of the competitors would do this. Her purchase was style driven but not at the expense of practicality.
I suspect though the real problem in this market sector is that you need either a "badge" (horrible philosophy) or flair and the Adam appears to have neither.
This engine will make its way
This engine will make its way into the MG3 as well as SAIC UK engineering have had a huge role in the development of this engine. It should be a good unit tbh, much lighter than the Ecoboost 3cyl as its ally & less problematic as Ford use a oil emersed cam belt, not a proven tech tbh. It is about time the dated ECOTEC got replaced
Going by
what I've heard and read so far about these small capacity 3-cylinder engines, they are 20-30% off the official MPG.
Yet the trend is catching up. First Ford, now Vauxhall, next is BMW bringing both petrol and diesel 3-cylinder units.