Honda has been consistently working on new fuel efficient engines and transmissions which will power its future vehicles. While manufacturers like Ford and Hyundai have been concentrating on direct injection technology for their petrol engines (GDI), Honda was focusing more on electric powertrains.
Meanwhile Honda also introduced a whole line-up of fuel saving EarthDreams engines and CVTs (Continuously Variable Transmission). Interestingly, Honda has just showcased its first 1.5 litre 4 cylinder petrol engine that features direct injection technology.
Talking from the Indian perspective, the new 1.5 litre Direct Injection petrol engine will first be seen on the new Honda Jazz which is expected to arrive somewhere around 2014. Later the same will come in the next generation Honda City sedan that sells in India.
Coming to the performance of the new 1.5 litre DI engine, it produces a max power of 127 BHP and peak torque of 154 Nm. Comparing these figures to the existing 1.5 litre i-VTEC petrol engine that powers the City and produces 118 BHP of max power and 145 Nm of max torque, the output of the DI engine is certainly better. Also, the five speed manual transmission will later be replaced by CVT automatic transmission.
As I have mentioned above, the 1.5 litre DI engine is a part of the EarthDreams project wherein Honda is focusing on a range of engines that will return high fuel economy while maintaining low tail pipe emissions. The whole EarthDreams engine range features a long list of innovations, some of which are given below:
- Direct injection
- High-tumble port
- Low-tension piston rings
- Patterned piston coating
- Mass EGR
- 2-stage relief oil pump
- Lightweight engine block construction
- Start-Stop system
Another interesting bit of of information says that Honda will be developing a small capacity turbocharged petrol engine, like the 1.0 litre EcoBoost engine from Ford. The turbocharged petrol unit from Honda is most likely to a 3 cylinder layout. This small engine will be used on the small car line-up across markets like Europe, Japan, India, Brazil and China.
This engine may not be launched for Jazz in India since the small car tax rules don’t apply on petrol cars above 1200 CC displacement segment. Stay tuned to Car Blog India for latest updates.
