@pico, I have driven a City Vario, a Lancer 1.6, and my dad has a Sunny 1.3 automatic. Will receive my Liana maybe tomorrow but it'll be 1.6 so won't count for your question.
City: its not really 1.3 but check other posts for details.
NOTE: iDSI is for economy, not power
1. Average (3/5)
2. Bad (2/5)
3. Above Average (3.5/5)
Sunny: (A/T)
1. Good (4/5)
2. Average (3/5)
3. Good (4/5)
Lancer 1.6 manual is a good car which makes me think that 1.3 must be sluggish.
Liana 1.3 has a DOHC engine must have good power and top speed as a couple zipped by when we were doing 140 km/h on M2 a couple of days back. But can not say anything about its acceleration. Moreover its economy would be worse compared to iDSI and SOHC engines.
These do not matter in the case of XLI until one figures out how to stop that thing.