Tofaş Şahin
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| Tofaş Şahin | |
|---|---|
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| Manufacturer | Tofaş |
| Production | 1986-2002 |
| Predecessor | Murat 131 |
| Class | FR family car |
| Body style | 4-door Sedan |
| Transmission | 5 speed |
| Related | Murat 131 Dogan |
The Tofaş Şahin, Dogan and Kartal are Turkish versions of the old Fiat 131 automobile made in Turk Otomobil Fabrikasi A.S. facilities in Bursa, Turkey.
In the early 80's they had the same shape of the Fiat 131 , whilst in the late 80's they received a major uplift to look like the Fiat Regata. The Dogan and the Sahin sedan look the same from the outside and look very similar to the Regatta, while the Kartal is the station wagon version. The Dogan and Sahin were first built using the engine of the FIAT 131 in 1.3L and 1.6L versions, in 1996 both cars received minor face uplift and were provided with a new SOHC engine driven from the Fiat Tempra engine (the engine that was first designed for the Fiat 128), with 2 versions, 1.4L with 78 HP at 5500 RPM ,and 1.6 L with 96 HP at 5500 L. In 2002 they received another minor uplift, and in 2005 they were introduced with single point electronic fuel injection.
The Sahin, Dogan and Kartal still depend on rear wheel drive with longitudinal engine, suspension system is based on McPherson design in the front and Multilink in the rear side, the major benefit of these economic cars is they are very robust and hard service ones, and the major drawback is the limitation of the interior space due to the rear wheel design which reserves a lot of space for gearbox, fuel tank and shaft tunnel in the passenger area.
In addition to Turkey where the Sahin is considered the popular car, they are also produced under license in Egypt in big numbers by the state owned Nasr car company. Here they are also considered as a popular car and the first choice for company cars and taxis.
[edit] Docc
In 2006 the Tofaş Şahin was put into production in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by the Holland Car Company, a joint venture between a firm from the Netherlands called Trento Engineering and a local firm that was formed called Ethio-Holland. Their version of the Şahin is called the Docc, which comes from the term Dutch Overseas Car Company and comes with a 1.6 powerplant.
