Benoit

As a european, we have lots of 3 cylinders as daylies. The taxes for everything else are rising, so lots of little earners are jumping on the 3cyls that are still affordable and reasonably taxed.

I have seen strange exercises, like Citroen, putting a 1.2 3 cylinder turbo into his bigger SUV and these are not even dramatically slow. It's sluggish, yes, but has more forward inertia that you would believe. And, of course, there is Toyota, coming with a massive 1.6 turbo 3 cylinder and 1.5 hybrid 3 cylinders.

I find them okay, but you can definitely feel the lack of torque and power when they come without turbos.

FrankReynoldsCPA

Only in Europe would a 1.6 be described as massive.

mmarshall

Here in the U.S., that is getting to be about the average size, with a turbo, for compact and sub-compact vehicles.

LH1

I remember test driving a Santa Fe with my Mom in 2019. It had the massive 1.6 turbo engine. It was a total dog, just awful.

Striker223

The smallest engine I have ever technially owned is my 1.9 TDI and I consider it comically small. I started with a 6.0 engine and then went small for a while with the Lexus V8s and now I'm back to 6.0+ class engines.

I can except a small engine like a 4.0 V8 if it has turbos or really unusually good specific TQ and a good powerband. Otherwise they just don't do it for me, straight 6s are cool though. I've always spoke how they feel, I never owned a V6 other than my jag for a few months.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

the 2021 santa fe i had used a 2.5 turbo which was plenty powerful enough and smooth for a 4.

FrankReynoldsCPA

I've never owned a 4 cylinder, NA or turbo.

I've had:
2.8 V6 - total dog
4.0 V8 - eh, okay at 250 hp. Great highway cruiser, but not a torque monster.
3.0 V6 - sufficient
5.0 V8 - beast and a screamer. Love it.
3.0 I6 - first turbo and it's amazing.

mmarshall

I remember you had a Ford Fusion several years ago. Was it a 4 or a V6?

FrankReynoldsCPA

3.0 V6. It was a good engine. Not a hot rod by any means, but it never lacked for power for normal driving.

geko29

Nor have I. I've actually only ever had one non-6-cylinder:

4.0L NA V6 - stout but not fast
5.2L NA V8 - too much torque for a mid-size RWD pickup, but helped me perfect driving sideways.
2.5L NA I6 - more fun than its 170hp would indicate, dead nuts reliable
3.0L TT I6 Diesel - Torque for DAYS; Best daily ever
3.0L TT I6 - Camry off idle, rabid animal at high revs

AJT123

What was the 2.5? Mazda? We had a V6 626 with about that hp. It was a really sweet, smoooooooth engine but the rest of the car was junk.

edit: never mind I see it's I-6, Mazda was V6.

geko29

BMW M52TU, in an E46 323i.

AJT123

Yep, driven it. Smooth as silk.

SW17LS

I mentioned in the General thread, I don't like 4 cyls. BUT, I did have that C300 loaner for a week and that was the furst turbo 4 where it really felt well suited to the car, and I never felt while accelerating "if only this had a 6 cyl". So, there is hope.

AJT123

Nothing against cars over there or Europe, but 1.6L is teeny teeny. Imagine a 2 liter of Coke, all of the volume distributed into the four cylinders. Not even that much displacement.

There is 22.2 Liters of displacement in my driveway and garage. Yeehaw!!