Turbo Charger in a 1.3L car in India

Hi,

I am new to cars and planning to purchase a hatchback in 2-3 months time. I am interested in 1.3L cars. I have zeroed down on Tata Indica Vista Aura QuadraJet and Maruti Suzuki Swift Vdi ABS. I am more interested in Vista because it is instantly available, that is, same day, as told by the sales rep here in Chandigarh as compared to Swift where the wait time is 6 months.

I am planning to install a Turbo Charger but I came to know that it cannot be installed in Vista Quadra. I want to know if there is any other 1.3L car in which I can install a turbo charger and can I get a turbo kit upgraded in Vista TDI as it also uses a turbo charger?

Thanks in advance.

Rishi,

All three cars you mentioned (Swift VDi, Indica Vista Quadrajet and TDi) have turbo-chargers. You have to live with these turbochargers as replacing a turbo is really costly affair. If your sole purpose of having/upgrading a turbo is to enhance performance, there are better and cheaper ways to do that.

Thanks Banwari,

Yes, my sole purpose it to enhance the performance of the car.

I am not aware of other options for performance enhancement. I only know about the those additional ECUs which play with sotck ECU signals  and other is Turbo kit. It will be really helpful for me if you can let me know those options for performance enhancement or if you can provide me some link where I can explore those options. Also, how much would it cost if I wish to upgrade the turbo kit in those cars and where can I get this done? I live in Chandigarh.

Thank you.

Buddy,

I am not a performance-freak and you should wait for someone expert in this field to answer this query. But IMO a turbo-kit should cost you anything upwards of a lakh rupees. Another issue is installer, you need to find someone really great at this. After-market turbo failure is not something surprising. Since all the cars already have turbos, I am not sure about the power-gain you will get with the after-market turbo.

Other ways to enhance power in a diesel car may include something like Pete's tuning box, KNN air filters (or typhoon kits) and free-flow exhaust (don't worry, a good quality, nicely done free-flow won't be loud).

Thanks Banwari for taking out time and replying to my query. I will follow your guide lines to enhance the performance.

Thanks once again.

It may be offtopic but I somehow feel that for most practical purposes the 1.3L Fiat engine (in Swift DDiS and Vista Quadrajet) in question is brilliant. The out-of-the-box power is more than adequate and you don't really have to hunt for more power, unless you are a BHP-man.

Another important point is sometimes more power brings in more problems. The entire car should be able to handle that power and behave sanely otherwise the purpose of having more power is defeated. Hyundai i20 Diesel, for example has more than ample power but the car isn't able to handle it and make you nervous when you try to use that power.

I would say first finalize a car, then keep figuring out ways of modifications. You will have to learn a lot before entering into this venture. Modification a very expensive path and there are lots of decoits who will try to fool you around if they sense that you are a newbie in the business.

I wanted to enhance the power of the car because I am a little surprised and confused becuse there are 6 cars(in my knowledge) in the market which use the exactly same engine (Swift DDis, Ritz DDis, Vista QuadraJet, Fiat Palio Stile, Fiat Punto, Fiat Linea) but out of these first 4 have exactly same power output, Punto is a hair-width more and Linea has most power.  Among these Swift is the one which moves fastest and has better drive control. I wanted to know what why is that?  I am impressed by the level of comfort and features provided in Vista when comparted to Swift but at the same time I am looking at the performance aspect and above all it's availability. I don't have to wait for 6 months. I just wanted to make Vista move quicker and faster.

There are lots of parameters that make a car's performance different from the other, even if they use same engine. Apart from engine, there are things like transmission/gear ratios, weight of the car, on road behavior of the car, turbo used/type etc. And as you must be aware, every engine is capable of producing more power with little tuning. The cars in question, though have same engines but have different performance-effecting parameters. Hence different performance.

I have driven Vista Quadrajet for good time and I found it amazing at engine power, be it in terms of city driving (pick-up) or highway driving (top speed). No complaints whatsoever. If you are looking at performance of Swift in the Vista, I am sure you will be able to get it. Buy the car. drive it for sometime then look out for performance enhancements.

Sue, I will.

Currently, I am a little short on money. OnceI have sufficient funds, I will buy this car.

Thanks for all the information and guidance.

rishil

1. what do you want your car to do

2. how much can you pay for it