Tata Altroz 1.5L Diesel vs 1.2L Turbo-Petrol - Acceleration Comparison

Tata Motors launched the Altroz iTurbo in India last week and it is currently one of the hatchbacks with the widest range of engine options in the premium hatchback segment. The Tata Altroz is available with a naturally aspirated petrol engine, the new turbo-petrol engine and even a diesel engine. Diesel engines themselves have become a rarity in this segment, with the Hyundai i20  being the only other car in this segment to offer a diesel engine.

It's been exactly one year since Tata Motors debuted the Altroz hatchback in India. In a year's time, the Altroz has sold over 50,000 units as was announced by Tata Motors a few days ago. While petrol version of the Altroz have predominated the sales figures, buyers looking for a diesel hatchback in this segment still have an option in the Altroz. With such a wide variety of powertrain options, we wanted to find out which of these might be the quickest. Here in this video, we are comparing the acceleration of the Tata Altroz diesel vs the turbo-petrol engine, both engines being mated to a manual gearbox.

Tata Altroz Iturbo Front 3 Quarters Action 3
A quick look at the specifications reveal that the Altroz iTurbo is more powerful than the Altroz diesel but it also has significantly less torque than the latter.

Also Read : Hyundai i20 1.5L Diesel vs 1.2L NA Petrol - Acceleration Comparison

Tata Altroz 1.5L Diesel vs 1.2L Turbo-Petrol Engine - Specs

Tata Altroz Diesel
Tata Altroz iTurbo 
Engine 1.5L 4-cyl turbo-diesel engine
1.2L 3-cyl turbo-petrol engine
Power 90hp 110hp
Torque 200Nm 140Nm
Transmission 5-speed MT 5-speed MT

A quick look at the specifications reveal that the Altroz iTurbo is more powerful than the Altroz diesel but it also has significantly less torque than the latter. While the Altroz iTurbo has a power advantage of 20hp, the Altroz diesel has 60Nm more torque than the iTurbo variant. Both engines come mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. This really could be anyone's race to win. Here's how the two versions of the Altroz fared in real world performance against each other.

Tata Altroz 1.5L Diesel vs 1.2L Turbo-Petrol Engine - Acceleration

Tata Altroz Diesel
Tata Altroz iTurbo
0-100kmph (First Attempt) 12.35 seconds 11.23 seconds
0-100kmph (Second Attempt) 12.32 seconds 11.00 seconds
0-100kmph (Third Attempt) 12.15 seconds
10.83 seconds

As can be seen from the table above, the Altroz iTurbo clearly outruns the diesel version. The best time that was achieved with the Altroz iTrubo was 10.83 seconds. Meanwhile, the best time acheived with the diesel version of the Altroz is 12.15 seconds. That's a difference of nearly 1.5 seconds. In fact, it is quite commendable that the Altroz iTurbo managed a sub-11 second run. The power advantage of the turbo-petrol engine outshines the torque advantage of a diesel engine.

Tata Altroz Iturbo Rear 3 Quarters Action
The Altroz iTurbo clearly outruns the diesel version.

The only missing element in the Altroz lineup currently is an automatic gearbox. None of the three engines on the Altroz are offered with an automatic gearbox of any kind. However, Tata Motors will be debuting a DCT automatic gearbox in the Altroz range in the near future. With that, the Altroz will be the first Tata car to be equipped with a DCT gearbox. The Altroz is currently available in six trim levels - XE, XM, XM+, XT, XZ and XZ+. The turbo-petrol engine is available only with the top three trims. Tata Motors also hiked the prices of the petrol and diesel versions of the hatchback recently.

Stay tuned to IndianAutosBlog.com for Tata updates more and other four-wheeler news.

Tata Altroz - Image Gallery

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