The Weekend and Adventure come with only one engine option - a 1.6- litre petrol. The 1.7 turbo-diesel from the earlier Siena Weekend has been discontinued in place of a 1.9-litre naturally aspirated diesel that should be available at the end of the year. While it may seem that there is no change in the engine as the earlier Siena Weekend was also powered by a 1.6-litre, twin-cam, 16-valve motor, the new Siena and Adventure benefit from a newer 1.6 first seen under the hood of the hot Palio GTX. The differences are pretty substantial and include marginally more displacement, a longer stroke and the latest engine management system which includes a 32-bit microprocessor. As a result peak power is higher (100bhp) and the engine feels stronger in the lower part of the rev range.

A key difference between the Weekend and Adventure is in the gearing which had to be optimised for each car separately to compensate for the huge difference in rolling circumference of the tyres. The Adventure&46;s set of ratios are more tightly stacked with a very useable fourth gear which is an overdrive on the Weekend.

In terms of performance, there isn&46;t much difference between the two. Both cars accelerate from rest to 100kph in under 13 seconds which is pretty good for a car weighing 1.2 tons. The Weekend is a touch quicker off the line but the Adventure gets its nose ahead beyond 120kph, the result of different gearing.

In-gear acceleration is not as impressive and lighter cars like the Corsa Swing and Baleno Altura are far quicker in the 20-80kph slog in third gear or 40-100kph in fourth gear. These figures however don&46;t reflect the Weekend and Adventure&46;s real-world abilities. Both are extremely driveable and you can potter along in a high gear all day.

Click a gear down on the light gearbox and you&46;re into the meat of the powerband, the additional thrust very effective. Though the 16-valve engines lack the razor-sharp responsiveness of the Ikon, the broad spread of torque makes driving these estates a pleasure. You&46;re always smug in the knowledge that there&46;s plenty of reserve in the motor. Even when stuffed to the gills with luggage scraping the roof, the Weekend and Adventure don&46;t feel underpowered.

The cable-operated gearshift is light and smooth and does a good job of isolating engine vibrations through the gear lever. It, however, just doesn&46;t have that crisp feel of conventional linkages.

Torquey engine copes well even with fully-loaded estate.