I have owned cultus twice in my life, 2000-2009 then efi variant 2009 to 2015. This was my daily driver, this was the car I had learnt on.
Two important things between both efi and non efi variant. The efi is faster marginally then the old one, but the handling characteristics due to parts localization means this is not confidence aspiring at all. Whereby my first cultus never required suspension work till we sold 115k km, the new one had lost both its front shocks at 26k KM's.
About acceleration here are countless races I have had the opportunity to partake in, I may not remember all these but some are mentioned. After many of these races, I used to pat the hood of the car and say to the car you've done me proud.
Cultus non efi vs indus 2.0d's = 3 car leads from the beginning in multiple instances
vs honda city the second generation = could only hold off the honda till the first, after that the city crossed
vs honda city the variomatics = always led by 1 car place till 120km/h
vs honda city the same variomatic model but manual = equal, at 80km/h city inches forward to give one car lead by the time we are at 120km/h
vs indus corolla xe = that corolla crossed me at 70km/h very shameful
vs vitz 1000cc auto's egg shapes - cultus always won.
vs liana - cultus always one car ahead
vs baleno - cultus always one car back after first gear
EFI cultus
vs corolla xli one model back from latest = equal in top speed runs tested till 150km/h
vs corolla 2.0d one model back from latest = 4-5 car places, equal to a rape, let a 2.0d launch at any speed I have even throttled off to let them come near me and then humiliated them again and again multiple instances
vs honda civic latest auto - first gear will always belong to cultus everything after it is blur
vs corolla 1.6 one model back from current (auto) = till 80km/h cultus had upper hand in multiple runs and yes that was our own car
vs vitz any shape as long as 1000 cc always won (never mess with a 1300cc vitz i was humiliated severely by it)
vs prius 1.8 can hold steady till 40km but after the first gear forget it
vs prius 1.5 can hold on tail of a prius (did not get chance for head to head start) till 80km/h without gaining or leaving
vs liana outruns from the very beginning and never lets liana come close
vs swift advantage of one car lead in first gear, cultus holds lead exactly same till 120km/h tested ahead of swift
vs swift auto = rape 2-3 car lead from the first gear onwards
vs 90s bmw 316i's (the ones with exhausts roaming about I had it with two different ones) - crossed the BMW's at 80km/h both drivers changed paths to avoid humiliation
The biggest disadvantages of cultus has been it's braking, the last race I ever did in it was with a gli on ittehad following which I nearly destroyed my car and was in a accident. Your question of xli will be answered here, I came up from back and crossed him at around 80km/h he took the right and i took a left, sadly there was a car on the road on the left with passengers exiting it was done. Anyways after the accident the GLI driver came to give me a piece of his mind claiming in front of people meri corolla thi aur mein second gear mein max accelerate kar raha hon, mujhey khud yakeen nai howa yeh mujhsay bhi taiz chala rahay thay. Lol that was the end of it I lost a lot of confidence on the cultus after that sold it soon afterwards and bought myself a Lancer, now I have become rotten for comfort.
Oh and I have always driven on petrol no cng installed, furthermore remember this except for the first altis 1.8 corolla (auto) no other 1.8 will be caused any headache by the cultus except in first gear. For the altis first one 1.8 (auto) the cultus is a extreme pain in the ***, no matter what they try the cultus is king against that till 100km/h. I never expected such a thing when a friend owned one told me to race another one on shahbaz he said you will see what happens. Something is sadistically wrong with the power delivery on that car.
All other cars that a cultus may have potential to loose within the 1600 and under to are the ones whose drivers will spend more time looking at the rear view mirror then on the front, trust me it causes anguish to a lot of people and makes them very desperate.
Finally a efi cultus also will cross all sorts of diesel vigos and cause similar anguish with petrol ones. I don't know much about those but I have always had happy times crossing them. Also no 660cc is run of the mill import can keep up with the efi cultus trust me and finally yes I have beaten a wagon r new one too, that was the easiest ever:p