Not sure I agree Doc, while the 1.6 is indeed a simple ( ish) engine with a good track record there's nothing to be afraid of with either the 1 litre or 1.4 Boosterjet engines, had a Balino with 1 litre engine and auto box for a week or so a few years ago, the engine was very strong indeed and the gearbox was superb, I kept it in manual for most of the time and used the paddles, great fun.

Currently running a vitara with the 1.4 ( mild hybrid), 2 1/2 years in and zero issue's, pulls like a train from low revs onwards and gives 49mpg on average around town.

I think that people tend to think modern turbo engines need revs to allow the turbo to spool up like the days of 2002's ( remember them?) But they simply don't, technology has moved on, hybrid turbos ( spooled up by a electric motor) plenum Chambers etc have eliminated turbo lag almost entirely, they only thing they demand is a supply of clean oil, personally I'm not not sure I would ever consider a ' normally ' aspirated engine or indeed a pure ICE again.

That's easy. As I said, it's the linear power delivery. The turbo engine in our Twingo, for example, has a very obvious surge when the turbo kicks in. It means that you are quite often on the margin of the boost and need to adjust your right foot quite a lot to keep it calm (if that's what you want).

That is a different engine though. If you look up reviews of the turbo versions of the Twingo and Smart Forfour, pretty much all of them are critical of the power delivery and say that the N/A car, while obviously slower, is nicer to drive because of this. I don't recall reading such criticism of other small turbo engined cars, suggesting the unit in the Twingo is the exception rather than the rule.

Looking at the figures goes some way towards explaining why, with peak torque in the Twingo's 90bhp 0.9 turbo coming in at a highish 2500rpm (peak torque in the 90bhp version of VAG's 1.0 happens from 1500rpm by comparison). Add in the tendency for most modern cars to have gearing which is too long, along with the fact that the Twingo is surprisingly heavy for a car that size (the much bigger SX4 S-Cross is only around 70kg heavier) and that old school turbo power delivery is only going to feel more noticeable.