Why Petrol technology not improving much over the years?

Guys,

      We all know that all technologies have improved a lot over the last 15 years, say computers, electronics, internet, communication, health care etc. But interestingly our good petrol engines hasnt improved much when compared to any other area. Let me clarify this with one example, take indias first luxuary car (Esteem) which was launchd in 1994 (15 years back) with 1300 cc engine with 65 bhp power. Now the same maruthi which taks about much advanced petol engine on Swift/ Dezire, which is just 85bhp with more or less similar performance and problems. (low power in 2nd gear). May be it is now MPFI, so lesser fuel emissions, but not much improvement in milege or power. Old esteem and new dezire pertrol gives average milege of 13 km/l. Why this is like this? 15 years is a big gap, but the end user is not getting better performace from any pertol engines. Above quoted is just an example........you can think of many other. Or  have we seen the extreme of petrol trechnology. Do share your thoughts on this.

Well, engines (internal combuston, i.e.) will not change much simply because the underlying principle of operation will not change. The basic mechanism of deriving mechanical power from fuel will remain the same...so the engines will remain the same. However, it is not entirely true that engines have not changed at all. They have changed - for example what was once considered a performance engine in the past is now considered ordinary or common place. Take a standard passenger car as an instance. The power and performance that it gives was at some time in the past only found in the realm of race cars (of that time).

Also, modern engines are much more robust and reliable than in the past - that's because of fuel-injection, better materials, advances in engine oils, and so on. An engine of the 60's would perhaps not last more than 7 years even with meticulous care whereas a modern engine will easily last 15 years or more with standard maintenance. The credit goes to electronic engine control, elimination of the carburettor and other such improvements.

Talking of mileage - again there's not much room for improvement beyond a point. It is limited by physics (or nature, if you will). There's only as much usable power you can extract from a unit of fuel as nature will allow and nothing more. Add to that the fact that most cars now have AC - with this a mileage of 13kmpl is about standard - you could get more or less depending on how the ECU is configured to burn fuel (i.e., greater or lesser performance). Increase performance (i.e, burn more fuel for greater power) and you get less mileage and vice versa. So its a trade-off between performance and mileage.

Besides, driving styles determines the final mileage. Without AC you could easily pull off 17-18kmpl whereas heavy usage of AC will lower it to even 10kmpl or less...so it all depends on how much creature comforts are being provided/used, etc.

MODS: This thread probably belongs to "The Thinking Pad" section.

Direct injection pertol is quite a big leap in technology when it comes to spark ingnition engines.So there has been technological achivements.

Another often forgotten aspect is the amount of tech that has gone into make the engines enviornmentally friendly.In this respect modern engines with ERG's and improved cat cons are giant leap in technological achivement.(Refer to the Euro I to Euro V and VI norms).

The example quoted is quite poor as the Esteem and the Dzire share the same engines!!

Thats what am concerned about , Why maruthi still riding on same 15 year old engine?  Is it becoz they dont want to give customers more value or is it the max improvement a petrol engine can have in 15 years.

I noticed this, as i am now in the process of updrading from my good old esteem.  While comparing performace of a Dzire petrol with old esteem........it's almost the same including the old issues like low power on second gear.

I donno much, from the information I've got the engine has been refined and fine tuned to meet the emission norms.

There are lot of engines coming in the KB series. 1.2 is a new engine that was launched and which meets the performance of 1.2. We may expect to see it in Swift. The chances are high as it will be able to get the car excise benefits.

After developing the multijet in diesel, Fiat has recently a petrol engine called multi-air, whose percentage efficiency and performance has gone up in two digits.

Check this out for more on Fiet Thin Air http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IrPcmMHqHE

Yes, this is what I was talking about.  Hydraulics in the camshaft to adjust for the best fuel efficiency and performance.  SI engines are all about air management and fiat has explored in the right channel for petrol engines the way they did it in multijet for diesel.

hey guys not just that- think of audi's FSi Fuel stratifies injection and VWs TSi. its all a big leap in technology that made them.

think of the new honda city 1.5 ivtec or new jazz's 1.2 ivtec specially designed for india ?

you are just considering one of the LOCAL manufacturers of india, ok ?

Hello

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