Opel has revealed a new turbocharged three-cylinder engine destined to debut in the Opel Adam.
Due to make its world premiere at next month’s Frankfurt motor show, the 85kW 1.0-litre engine is the first of an all-new family of small-displacement direct injection petrol engines that will power the Opel Adam from next year.
Producing 166Nm between 1800-4700rpm, Opel says the 1.0 SIDI (Spark Ignition Direct Injection) Turbo generates more torque than its naturally aspirated 1.6-litre four-cylinder predecessor while matching its maximum power output.
Featuring continuously variable valve timing, a lightweight aluminium cylinder-block and an exhaust manifold integrated inside an aluminium cylinder head, Opel expects fuel efficiency to be improved by 20 per cent over the 1.6-litre unit with CO2 emissions of below 100g/km.
Opel small gasoline engines chief engineer Dr Matthias Alt said the German manufacturer not only set out to minimise fuel consumption and emissions, but to demonstrate that three-cylinder engines could be just as refined as those with four or more cylinders.
“We tackled at source the balance, noise and vibration issues typical of conventional three-cylinder engines, and we’re confident customers will be pleasantly surprised by the results,” Alt said.
Opel says it worked to eliminate the traditional, ‘off-beat’ characteristic of three-cylinder engines by ensuring the fuel rail and injectors were structurally isolated from the cylinder head and installing a balance shaft in the oil sump and ‘acoustically optimised’ covers for the engine, intake manifold and camshaft housings.
The 1.0 SIDI Turbo will be built at GM’s Szentgotthard plant in Hungary, and will be mated to an all-new six-speed manual transmission that the car maker says is around 30 per cent lighter than the gearbox it currently uses.
The new engine and gearbox are part of Opel’s renewed powertrain portfolio, which will see three new engine families and 13 new engines introduced between 2012 and 2016, along with several new transmissions.
In April, Opel revealed details of its new turbocharged 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engines – as well as plans for the introduction of an eight-speed automatic transmission – and in January it confirmed specifications of its new all-aluminium 1.6 CDTI four-cylinder diesel range.
Sadly Australia will miss out on seeing the new units in Opel cars with the brand exiting our market after less than a year on our shores.
In Europe the Opel Adam is available with three engines, a 51kW 1.2-litre four-cylinder unit and a 64kW or 74kW 1.4-litre, with all three mated to a five-speed manual transmission.
