Bajaj RE 4S Fuel Injected Vs Carburettor Test

Many people have asked what is the difference between the Bajaj RE 4S Fuel Injected version of the Bajaj RE Carburettor version?

I drive a carburettor version every day and had never driven the fuel-injected model. That changed a few days ago when I had the loan of 2 fuel-injected models over 2 days.

Day 1 Testing

The first test I put the Bajaj RE 4S Fuel Injected model was hill-climbing, for this I took the Bajaj RE 4S Fuel Injected model up Mount Samat to the National Shrine.

Mount Samat rises to 544.7 metres (1,787 ft) above sea level, while the road does not reach the top it is not far from it. It is a hard climb and on some of the hairpins, it is very steep.

Load on the hill climb

The load on the Bajaj RE FI was 2 big men, a woman and an 8-year-old child plus a couple of bags. The climb was made more difficult by roadwork that meant some of the climbs was done on no more than a dirt track.

The first opinion on pulling away on a climb was the Bajaj RE 4S Fuel Injected model seemed to pull better than the Bajaj RE 4S Carburettor model.

So my first impression of the fuel-injected model was good, however, as we started to climb more I really could not notice any difference between the Bajaj RE 4S Fuel Injected model and the carburettor version of the RE. There seemed nothing in it at all both seem to perform about the same on climbing.

The Hairpins of Mount Samat

On reaching the hairpins which are extremely steep I had to drop down to first gear to get up them, it was only for a short distance before I could get back into second gear. I have yet to find a hill that I have needed to drop my Bajaj RE 4S Carburettor model into first gear.

There could be a few reasons for this, one being I am not sure if I have done such a steep climb in my Carburettor model of the Bajaj RE and if I have it was not on such a tight turn.

The other reason could be the Bajaj RE I was testing was not as well maintained as my own and really felt like it could do with a service.

The dirt track

The Bajaj RE fuel-injected version handled the dirt track part well as does the carburettor version and I could not tell the difference.

Conclusion of first day of testing.

I would say the Bajaj RE FI pulls away slightly better on the hills than the carburettor version, however, when it comes to overall climbing, the carburettor version of the RE is very slightly better.

Day 2 of Testing

Because I was not very happy with the condition of the Bajaj RE I tested on the first day, I was loaned a different one to test on the second day.

Day two of testing was mostly carried out on city and town roads. As this is the type of road the RE is really designed for it seemed only right to test the FI version under these conditions.

No more Lurch

One big difference I did notice was the carburettor version of the Bajaj Re does tend to lurch sometimes when stuck behind a tricycle that is going slow, it does not do this all the time but there does seem to be speeds that the carburettor version just is not happy at.
The Bajaj Re fuel-injected version does not seem to have the problem of lurching and seems happy at all speeds.

Pulling away also seems a bit smoother with the FI version and it also seems to have a more responsive pick-up when overtaking.

Overall Conclusion

There really is little between the 2 versions. While the Bajaj Re fuel-injected version does give a slightly smoother ride, the carburettor version seems to climb a little bit better, however, there is very little in it.

Would I change my Bajaj RE carburettor version?

I would like the smoother ride which the fuel-injected version gives especially as I do a lot of short trips taking my son to school etc and on that sort of trip the FI is a much smoother ride. However the carburettor version is easier to maintain, so for now I will stick with my carburettor version.

I suspect in the next few years the fuel-injected version will improve even more as fuel injection is relevantly new to the Bajaj RE and if it does I may well consider an upgrade to mine.