Power Up!

- Rishabh Bhaskar

The best thing about siblings, especially if you are the younger one, is eventually you get to share the goodies. So from clothes to gadgets, you know you’ll get to call them your own, someday. In the automotive space, the Datsun redi-Go is one such sibling that has finally received what the elder brother, the Renault Kwid, has — the new 1-litre petrol engine.

Datsun calls it the 1.0 i-SAT which stands for Intelligent Spark Automated Technology. It automatically adjusts the spark timing in response to fuel quality and power requirements. For the number crunchers, the motor in the redi-Go develops 68PS (up from 55PS in the 800cc redi-Go) and 91Nm at 4,200rpm.

I remember driving the 800cc redi-Go during a comparison test and immediately noticing how laborious the engine felt when climbing a steep flyover, especially with three passengers. Also, with all the torque concentrated towards the initial part of the rev range, driving around town required constant gearshifts, which was an annoyance in traffic.