Why does the Tata Nexon engine feel overrated to me? (Engine discussion only)
I feel the Tata Nexon engine is a bit overrated — and I’m talking only about the engine, not the car as a whole.
First thing: it’s a 3-cylinder turbo petrol engine.
In general, 3-cylinder engines already feel more stressed and less refined compared to 4-cylinder engines because each cylinder has to work harder. Then adding a turbo on top of that makes me feel like the engine is being pushed even more. I know this is becoming common nowadays because of emission norms and cost-cutting, and many brands are doing the same thing.
But the second thing shocked me more.
The Nexon 1.2 turbo petrol has only 2 valves per cylinder — so total 6 valves.
Meanwhile, even many naturally aspirated 4-cylinder petrol engines have 16 valves total.
I was honestly surprised seeing a turbo engine with just 2 valves per cylinder in 2026.
Maybe I’m missing some engineering logic here, but on paper it feels outdated and highly stressed for the power it produces.
At the same time, people praise this engine a lot for performance and drivability. So I want to understand:
- Does valve count matter as much today?
- Is the Nexon engine actually heavily stressed or am I overthinking specs?
- How reliable are these small 3-cylinder turbo petrols long term compared to a relaxed 4-cylinder NA or diesel?
- Is refinement the main compromise here?
I’m not hating Tata. Just genuinely trying to understand the engineering side behind this trend.