D ROAD AHEAD

New tech is fast giving diesel cars the edge over their petrol counterparts

What8217;s the first thing that comes to mind when you think 8216;diesel8217;? A heavy, low-power growler of an engine that drives trucks and taxis, right? If you had said so a few years ago, no one would have looked askance. Today, brows would turn, not too subtly, towards the sleek machines zooming on the roads.

Technology can do wonders and the new generation diesel engine8212;common-rail injection, to be technologically precise8212;is anything but gauche. No, the old engine has not had a cosmetic makeover and acquired a fancy name. This is the real deal8212;many automobile manufacturers believe this is the Holy Grail of diesel engine technology.

The modern diesel engine has a 8216;rail8217;8212;okay, it8217;s only a pipe8212;where the fuel is stored at high pressure. This allows permanent availability of diesel for the engine8217;s cylinders. So it runs smoothly in different driving conditions. Conventional engines had to build and generate pressure every time the fuel was injected into the cylinders.

This technological rejigging has not only improved its power but also reduced fuel consumption and cut down on the noise and carbon emission. In an apprehensive world that has given up calorie count for carbon count, the diesel engine is a happy prospect.

8220;The common-rail engines give high fuel economy and also meet higher emissions standards like Euro IV,8221; says I.V. Rao, R038;D chief, Maruti Udyog. Some diesel cars, he adds, are even faster than the petrol ones.

Little wonder then that auto manufacturers in India are flooding the market with hi-tech diesel variants. The Maruti Swift has its alter ego in the Swift DDiS, Indigo has a DICOR version. Mahindra launched the Renault Logan with a dCi variant, while GM recently released the diesel-powered Chevrolet Optra Magnum and has set the schedule for Captiva, an SUV. Hyundai will put out the diesel variant of Getz, while Fiat also plans new hi-tech engines for its current and upcoming models.

Petrol cars still have an edge if you thrive on breakneck speeds. They cost less too. To be fair to diesel, new technology costs more. The idea is to compute expenses over the long term. The 87 bhp Swift petrol costs Rs 416,485 ex-showroom, while the 75 bhp diesel variant comes for Rs 484,961. Tot up Rs 68,476 as initial savings. But when it comes to fuel efficiency, the diesel gives 16-18 kpl, while the cheaper petrol version struggles to log 12 kpl in city traffic with the AC on. Then take the prices of petrol and diesel. Do the math for a number of years and the figure of 68,476 doesn8217;t look like a bonanza, does it?

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The modern diesel cars aren8217;t a drag on the roads either. The new 2-litre turbocharged diesel powered Chevrolet Magnum delivers 120 bhp of maximum power, 5 bhp more than its 1.8-litre petrol sibling. This when the Magnum is priced almost the same as the Optra8212;Rs 8.74 lakh-Rs 9.99 lakh. As for the Swift, the diesel mutant rides better than the petrol one.

Even the argument that a diesel engine requires more maintenance is now as outdated as the Ambassador8217;s design. As Rao insists, 8220;The maintenance cost is now virtually the same as that for petrol cars.8221;

So think diesel. Nobody will look askance.