Mahindra G12 TCMPFi (1.2 mStallion)

The turbocharged, port-injected 1.2 three-cylinder petrol in the XUV300 and the XUV 3XO — Mahindra's G12 block with a turbocharger and multi-point injection into the ports, rated 110 hp at 5,000 and 20 kg-m from 2,300 to 3,000 on the maker's own datasheet. Built at Chakan, 1,197 cc, part of the G12 series Mahindra designed in-house from 2016 for its own cars and for SsangYong's.

⚑ Its sibling in the same engine bay is the G12 TGDi, and the difference is where the fuel goes in. That one is direct injection at 130 hp; this one sprays into the port. A fuelling diagnosis does not carry between them — direct injection puts carbon on the intake valves because no fuel washes them, and port injection does not, so intake-side symptoms mean different things on the two cars. The showroom badge mStallion covers both, and so does the 2.0 four-cylinder in the Thar and XUV700, which shares nothing with either.

Three cylinders is the fact that changes how you read a misfire. One dead cylinder is a third of the engine rather than a quarter, so a single-cylinder fault presents as something close to a breakdown, and there is no second bank to compare a sensor against.

The naturally aspirated member of the same family is the 3G12, badged mFalcon G80, and it has its own page: same 1,197 cc and same cylinder count, no turbocharger, 80 hp. Displacement alone will not tell the three apart — read the aspiration and the injection system.

Ordinary turbo-petrol care applies: the oil interval is protecting the turbocharger's bearing feed before it is protecting anything else, and a boost-pressure complaint is a leak test on the charge pipework before it is a turbocharger.