DI-D

When designing the latest turbo-diesel engine, Mitsubishi decided on a four-cylinder engine, as the high torque characteristics of this configuration tend to be what owners look for in diesel engines.

However the 3.2-litre Shogun unit incorporates engineering features that you might have more readily associated with sporty petrol engines - it has four valves per cylinder and double overhead camshafts.

The DI-D fuel-injection, standing for 'Direct Injection Diesel', is more efficient than traditional indirect-injection set-ups, because fuel does not first have to pass through a primary mixing chamber before entering the cylinder to be burned.

It all adds up to an engine that is very powerful by diesel standards. It produces 158bhp, a 28 per cent increase over Mitsubishi's previous 2.8-litre turbo-diesel engine, while torque is 275lb ft occurring at 2000rpm, also a 28 percent increase.

At the same time, the efficiency of the engine results in significantly better fuel consumption - it uses up to 30 percent less fuel than the old 2.8 turbo-diesel.

There's something else the new 3.2-litre DI-D engine has less of - exhaust emissions. In the Shogun DI-Ds with manual transmission, the CO2 output (the so-called 'greenhouse' gas, said to cause global warming) is 251g/km, compared to 300g/km for the old 2.8-litre engine. In automatic form, the DI-D unit is 278g/km against the previous engine's 342g/km.

That's not just good for the environment, but for company car drivers' wallets. As of April 2002, the tax owed by employees with company cars is affected by the CO2 output - the lower it is, the less the tax that will be paid.

This new turbo-diesel technology also sits at the heart of the new L200 in the form of a 2.5-litre DI-D engine, in the 7-seater Grandis in a 2.0-litre DI-D form and in the 3 and 5 door Colt with a 3-cylinder 1.5-litre DI-D version.