The big difference between the petrol and diesel versions of this car is felt and heard more than seen. In fact, it can be felt the moment you switch on the ignition. The twin-cylinder unit starts up with quite the cough before settling into a loud clatter as it idles. Slot it into gear, get going and the extra 35 Nm of torque, which also kicks in 1,500 revs earlier, is easily felt even though the diesel car with its 900-kilo kerb weight weighs 70 kg more than the petrol car’s 830 kg. Yes, the car does feel peppy at the onset. The 793-cc two-cylinder unit with four valves per cylinder puts out a maximum of 47.6 PS at 3,500 RPM and a peak torque of 125 Nm at 2,000 RPM. Power delivery is fairly linear, making pottering around town an easy task.
Transmission to the front wheels is via a five-speed manual gearbox, which has a slightly notchy feel. Allow me to explain. If you feel your way around the ‘box carefully, you’ll feel that there’s a slight notch before it actually slots into gear. Also, it doesn’t feel as precise as the unit, say, in the Swift or the Ritz. These are probably down to the kind of linkages that have been used. Ratios are decently sorted, though. The trump card of this powertrain, however, is its fuel economy and on that count the Celerio doesn’t disappoint with an overall figure of 21.83 km/l.
Beyond the powertrain, the familiar Celerio feel returns. So handling of the diesel car isn’t substantially different from what you’d experience in the petrol car. It’ll go round the bends and hold its own on straights too, so long as you don’t push it too hard. Stick to a 20 km/h speed band, say, 90-110 km/h, and you won’t have any hairy situations. Quick direction changes at slightly high speeds can, however, be unsettling. Meanwhile, the steering is light and easy to use but is slightly vague at dead centre.
