Ford EcoSport’s new Dragon engines – What’s it all about

Ford will soon launch the facelifted EcoSport in India, and along with the refreshed car, there will be brand new engines from the Dragon family. Dragon what? Yes, Ford has come up with a new family of petrol engines that’ll be built in India for both domestic and export markets. These engines will eventually make their way into the likes of the Figo and Aspire, and some more new Ford cars of the future.

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The Dragon range of engines refer to newly developed three cylinder, petrol motors that are naturally aspirated (no turbocharging). The 1.5 liter-3 cylinder Dragon engine will produce about 120 Bhp, and will replace the 1.5 liter-4 cylinder Sigma petrol engine that the EcoSport currently uses.

The new engine is said to be 10 % lighter and more frugal than the 4 cylinder Sigma unit while retaining performance. Ford has also developed a 1.2 liter-3 cylinder Dragon engine that could possibly offered on cheaper variants of the EcoSport (excise benefits are considerable).

The 1.2 liter Dragon engine is estimated to make about 90 Bhp of peak power. This motor will find its way onto the engine bays of the Figo and Aspire, both sub-4 meter cars that need their petrol motors to be under 1.2 liters for excise duty benefits.

The Dragon range of engines will feature some commonalities such as an integrated exhaust manifold, a rocker shaft with hydrodynamic bearings, a variable oil pump, hydraulic tappets, centralized spark plugs, individual ignition coils for each cylinder, and dual independent valve control. Essentially, these engines are tech-packed, and ready to meet the BS6 emission norms coming sometime in 2020.

Coming back to the facelifted EcoSport, the compact SUV is likely to retain the 1.5 liter TDCI turbo diesel and the EcoBoost turbo petrol engines without any changes. These engines will be mated to 5 speed manual transmissions. The Dragon range of engines are likely to get both manual and automatic gearbox options, as was the case with the Sigma range of older petrol engines.

Via AutocarIndia