Question about "power"

little_green

I currently have a 1.4 turbo and looking at new car I had ruled out anything under 1.4 engine as felt it wouldn't have the same power but someoje mentioned not to auto rule out smaller engines as nowadays car come with added extras (I think things like eco boost etc?) 

Anyway I had a 2007 1.4 prior to my 1.4T and I notice a huge difference in terms of gaining acceleration and overtaking on this that my last. I don't want to downgrade to a smaller engine to find it doesn't have the same power as what I currently have as would regret that. 

What figure would I mean to look at for this info? All I know if bhp but don't know lol the technical details lol. 

Basically I like the feeling of a little "boost" like in mario kart! 

Anyone help? 

Reginald74

The T is a turbo which is boosting the power from the non turbo 1.4.

Basically bhp tells you most of what you need to know and should take precedence over engine capacity.

AdrianC

There's two figures quoted for every engine - power (bhp, ps or kw), and torque (lb-ft or Nm). One set of measurements is dibnah, the other metric.

To cut a long story short, power is at the top of the revs, torque is lower down. More of both is better, but there's a point of diminishing returns unless you thrape the car everywhere...

Consider also the weight of the car. More weight requires more oomph to move it.

little_green

Ah ok so I should look for something with at least the same bhp in that case? The car I like comes in 1.0 1.4 15 & 1.6 all T version like I say I'd initially rules out the 1.0 but it seems it's going to be the most readily available so if it's not going to be noticeably slower then I'm happy to consider it 

AdrianC

Radical thought...

Test drive one, see how you like it.

molerat

I replaced my 1.6 with a 1.0 with + 25% bhp and +38% torque over a wider rev range. My current 1.5 has +50% bhp to the 1.6 and +70% torque over a wider rev range so don't rule out engine size until you give it a try.

Flight3287462

Read some reviews.

peter3hg

As said test drive is the only way to really get a feel.

One of the reasons your current car will feel much better is modern day small capacity turbo engines have a fairly small turbo which gives a boost in low down power compared to a non-turbo engine. Even if the peak top-end power isn't much different, that extra low down oomph makes for a much more pleasant engine to drive.

The torque figure is often the best figure to compare as this will give a better idea of the low down power available which is where most people drive 95% of the time.

Grumpy_chap

little_green said:

I currently have a 1.4 turbo and looking at new car I had ruled out anything under 1.4 engine as felt it wouldn't have the same power but someoje mentioned not to auto rule out smaller engines as nowadays car come with added extras (I think things like eco boost etc?) 

Anyway I had a 2007 1.4 prior to my 1.4T and I notice a huge difference in terms of gaining acceleration and overtaking on this that my last. I don't want to downgrade to a smaller engine to find it doesn't have the same power as what I currently have as would regret that. 

What figure would I mean to look at for this info? All I know if bhp but don't know lol the technical details lol. 

Basically I like the feeling of a little "boost" like in mario kart! 

Anyone help? 

Back in the day cylinder capacity was the main indicator of how powerful a car was, so a Cortina car with 1600 cc (1.6-litre) was more powerful than a 1300 cc (1.3-litre) and you could broadly compare across marques in this way also, so bench-mark a Cortina against a Cavalier.

With advances through the introduction of additional valves per cylinder, turbo etc, the comparison is no longer as straightforward.

This 2019 Fiat Tipo has 1.4 L engine but only 94 bhp and will be rather pedestrian:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202007010731131

This similarly sized (weight) 2019 Vauxhall Astra has 1.2 L engine, but 143 bhp and will feel rather more sprightly:
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202105172744523

To get comparable power (acceleration and top-speed) between a Tipo and an Astra, the following are similar:

• Tipo 1.6 L, 118 bhp https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202103089885300
• Astra 1.0 L, 104 bhp https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202107275511514

Even there, the Tipo has more than 10% greater power, yet the performance is very similar.

Engine size and power (bhp) can be a guide to the performance, but the gearing, suspension, chassis set-up all make a big difference to how the car drives.  A car configured for economy or comfort will be much different to a car configured for performance.

So, the thing to do is to treat the performance figures on paper as an indicator but then take the car for a test drive to see how it actually behaves.

Robbo66

The Toyota 1.2L is turbocharged and has around 116 horsepower

Ebe_Scrooge

If you really want to get technical, BHP per ton is a more meaningful measure than pure BHP.  Imagine a little Polo with a 1.4 engine kicking out, say, 110 bhp - reasonably nippy.  Put that same engine into a 2-tonne Rolls Royce, it'd struggle to move.  Think of motorbikes - 600cc is a reasonably powerful bike that'll easily top 120 mph and accelerate like whatsit off a shovel, but the same engine would struggle to power even a small car.

Add into that the many factors that have already been mentioned such as turbo, gearing ratios, the usable rev range of the engine, number of valves per cylinder, and dozens of other variables - you really won't know until you drive it.

Actually, F1 engines are only 1.6 litres, the same as, or less, than many ordinary family cars.  Yes, they cost rather a lot more, and operate at rather higher RPM.  And they only last for one race - sometimes not even that.  But it just goes to show that pure size is not necessarily a reliable measure of performance :-)