Powertrain (2000-2005)
POWERTRAIN Limited was a very busy company between 2000 and 2005 - Keith Adams explains how it was working on an exciting range of developments which would have modernised MG Rover's engine line-up and powered that company’s cars confidently into the future...
A new range of petrol and diesel engines featured some very exciting technology and could well have transformed Powertrain into the engine supplier of choice for the British specialist car industry, while pushing MG Rover towards the forefront of its class.
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Other petrols and diesels into the 75
VAG TDI engines Initially, MG Rover investigated plans to buy in VAG TDI engines as a replacement, but a rising cost price soon torpedoed these plans.
Fiat JTD Next on the agenda, and far more serious, was an investigation into the Fiat JTD engine in varying states of tune. However, the Fiat engine deal floundered because the Italians wanted more money per engine than MGR would pay. Fiat wanted a guaranteed volume of engines and Longbridge couldn't comfortably sign a contract on those numbers so a lesser volume was proposed, at which level the price per unit was too high for MGR to stomach. Much of this was thrashed out in 2002 when, immediately after the Geneva Show, an MG Rover team headed down to Turin with the hope of sealing a deal. As well as the proposed deal to buy VW diesel engines, MG Rover also had talks with Mitsubishi over engine supply but again they couldn't make the numbers work.
According to Nic Fasci, the Fiat JTD engine was not a complete success in the 75/ZT: "My only experience of driving one (as they were very closely guarded bits of metal) was from out of the Prototype Methods build area back up to the back of the Engineering office; the diesel clatter echo you could hear between the buildings was huge compared to M47/G series. They were perky enough engines, just a bit gruff for my liking. It was a shame that the 2.4-litre five-cylinder JTD engine didn't fit, now that was a load of fun!"
Nic added: "The Rover 75 development models used the four-cylinder 1.9-litre unit mated to either a five-speed, six-speed or tiptronic gearbox. We did spend a lot of time looking at fitting the JTD engine to the 75 range as it fitted in neatly and gave us access to some new gearbox specifications. However, it all went belly up, as I believe that JTD demanded more money for each unit, and I think Fiat wanted cash up front to get things going. Needless to say, we pulled away from the project. Pity really – it would have been interesting."
PSA 2.0HDI Another Powertrain engineer said: "Peugeot diesel into R75 was a Project Drive initiative to replace the BMW M47 engine with a Peugeot (I think DW10) diesel engine. This would have been a big cost saving because MGR was being ripped off by BMW on the cost of its engines. I think it was canned because of the development costs."
Isuzu engines He added, "MGR toyed with the idea of a 3.0L Isuzu diesel into R75. I went to many package meetings to discuss this – not really sure why it died – maybe the proposed tie up with Fiat killed it."
Petronas engines He also commented; "Not too sure how this came about, but Petronas had an engine range they had designed that they needed an experienced partner to develop. PTL was keen to oblige. A number of Petronas engines were fitted to R75s to assess. I didn't drive one, but my understanding was that they were all top end – great for MG but not Rover."
Thanks to various unnamed engineers, and Nic Fasci for their invaluable help in compiling this feature.
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