As I read it, they made a simple trade.
Less displacement (and new balancer) = less vibration and friction
Less vibration and friction = higher available redline
Higher redline = more HP (or same HP with less torque and fuel consumption, in this case)
Personally, I've always preferred engines with a nice fat low end to the high-revving (I think of it as a more Japanese engineering style) plants, but others will certainly disagree. In other words, fuel efficiency aside, the new engine should be strictly a matter of driving taste.
I do suspect, however, that the available engine modifications will be fewer and more expensive - the reduced volume and already high peak revs suggest to me that they've tweaked this engine further than the old one to get into the 190h range. Don't expect to get 30hp gains from it with a $1000 pulley, or see any ECU mod that won't destroy the cylinders in a matter of days.
Less displacement (and new balancer) = less vibration and friction
Less vibration and friction = higher available redline
Higher redline = more HP (or same HP with less torque and fuel consumption, in this case)
Personally, I've always preferred engines with a nice fat low end to the high-revving (I think of it as a more Japanese engineering style) plants, but others will certainly disagree. In other words, fuel efficiency aside, the new engine should be strictly a matter of driving taste.
I do suspect, however, that the available engine modifications will be fewer and more expensive - the reduced volume and already high peak revs suggest to me that they've tweaked this engine further than the old one to get into the 190h range. Don't expect to get 30hp gains from it with a $1000 pulley, or see any ECU mod that won't destroy the cylinders in a matter of days.
