K Family
An engine is a modular assembly rather than a single piece. Parts of this assembly can be modified without changing the whole. Renault fully applied this concept of modularity to the K family to increase the number of engine variants and meet a range of customer needs without increasing the number of parts (or the costs) in proportion.
The key to modularity
An engine family is defined not by its capacity or whether it uses diesel or petrol fuel, but by its axle spread, namely the distance between the center of two cylinders placed side by side. Changes in this gap affect a number of parameters, including:
the dimensions of the engine block (and thus its volume and weight),
the quantity of matter between the cylinder jackets (and thus, in part, the internal resistance of the engine).
Axle spread for the K family is 85 mm, ranking it in the compact engine category.
Big families
The K family comprises 10 members :
- two eight-valve petrol engines (the K7s, available in 1.4 l and 1.6 l versions),
- two 16-valve petrol engines (the K4s, available in 1.4 l and 1.6 l versions),
- four diesel versions, the K9s, based on a single 1.5 l capacity (60 hp, 70 hp, 85 hp and 105 hp),
- an LPG version.
and the last one : the 105 hp 1.5 dCi with particulate filter
