Journo in petrol engine love shock February 19, 2010
Posted by richard in : Uncategorized , trackbackNOWADAYS it is rare for motoring journalists to get excited over mainstream petrol engines.
Yes, we love our 6-pots, and get super-excited in these dying days of the V8. There’s an ethereal silence when we behold a V12.
But cooking new 4-cylinder 1.4s and the like? Lord, no. Even though the majority of small hatches sold are petrol engined, we still like to eulogise over the crazy money diesels. Well, quite right, given how good the modern diesel is.
Anyone who chooses, say, a 2.0 petrol Mondeo over its diesel equivalent really does need to ask a few logic-based questions.
So I wasn’t really expecting much from the Citroen C3 1.4 VTi 95 I had in this week. Starting it up, and hearing the familiar old PSA XU cam-clatter kinda reinforced my lack of whelm. And the god-awful digitally on-off nature of the throttle had me yearning for a nice 1.6 HDi 90.
An hour later, hat was eaten. This engine is brilliant. Smooth, powerful, torquey, classy in vocals and peachy in ability to take on Maybachs heading north on the M1, I fell in love. 1.4 VTi? One of the modern small car engine greats, it is.
And you don’t need to be a Citroen fan to enjoy it, either. PSA management is sharp, alright – it collaborated with no less than BMW on this unit, perhaps explaining why it’s so fantastic. This means not only is it in the Peugeot 207, it’s also in the MINI.
Never driven a MINI One, or a MINI First. Seriously must get one out – because if the engine’s as good as it is here, that car could be a bit of an understated peach. Certainly preferable to the – shock horror – clattery and not-so-loveable MINI Cooper D diesel…
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