Four Cylinder Wars

There was a time, not long ago when you would assume that a car which made between 300bhp-400bhp would sport a 6 or an 8 cylinder engine. The Audi S4 B6, not very long ago had a massive 4.3 L V8 under its hood, churning out 330BHP. The BMW 328i, the bread winner for the folks from Bavaria used an inline 6 cylinder producing 230 BHP.

Well the times have changed & the auto manufacturers are now engaged in a war to cramp in maximum performance in more efficient, smaller displacement engines. This is great news for the consumer & it just promises to get better & better…. The Audi S4 ditched the massive V8 for a more potent supercharged V6 making more power than the erstwhile V8. BMW ditched their inline 6 for a turbocharged 4 cylinder making more power than the earlier engine & at the same time returning a healthy combined gas mileage in the late 20’s.

I would say that a turning point in this trend to maximize performance in smaller engines was in the middle of 2013 when Mercedes Benz announced that they would introduce the CLA45 AMG which would be a four banger. Never had we heard or imagined in the wildest of our dreams that the magicians from AMG would entertain the concept of even a 6 cylinder engine. The technicians from AMG would rather use a 4 cylinder engine to power their tooth brushes or their food processors. But look what they did to a modest 4 cylinder in a base CLA 250 which produces a mere 200 BHP. They transformed that engine, to the world’s most power production 4 cylinder in the world producing a preposterous 355 BHP & 325 lb-ft of torque & at the same time averaging 28 MPG. That’s just bonkers!!!

The other German’s had to respond to this kind of a provocation. Audi announced the S3 which will be launched here in the US at the end of 2014. This 4 banger produces 290 BHP & 300 lb-ft of torque with a gas mileage of 28 MPG. There are rumors of an S3 Plus model which will produce over 350 BHP, though there are no confirmations yet.  Porsche has started talking about putting 4 bangers in their Boxter & Cayman models producing close to 400 BHP. Vokswagen just introduced its 300 HP Golf R.  It would be criminal if I forget to mention the iconic Mitsubishi Lancer Evo & the Subaru WRX & STI which pioneered the concept of turbo charged 4 cylinders which produce a lot a power.

Now that we have spoken in depth about performance oriented 4 cylinder engines, let’s talk about more affordable daily commute 4 cylinders. BMW is now putting a turbocharged 4 cylinder engine in their 328i & also the 528i. Audi does a turbocharged V4 in the A4 & A3 models. It offers a supercharged V4 even in the A6. Mercedes does a V4 in their base CLA 250 which was launched a year ago & has so far won many accolades pushing the sales volumes for the Stuttgart based Benz.

It would be interesting to see how the Japanese like Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Lexus & Infiniti respond to this 4 cylinder performance oriented war. Would it be possible to see a 4 Cylinder Nissan GTR producing a modest 350 BHP? Will Toyota revive the iconic Supra which still has a huge fan following even 10 years after Toyota stopped producing it? I am all excited to see the Supra’s, S200’s & baby Godzilla’s of the next generation!!! Hope you are too!!