www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8746834/Volvo-announces-a-four-cylinder-future.html
Volvo is dropping all 6 & 8 cylinder engines by 2014 - all cars will be 4 cylinder +supercharger, Turbo, Hybrid........................
A 4 cylinder executive car selling in the USA when V8s have reigned supreme for decades?
Wise move or foolish? What do you think
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Anyone planning a basis for oil driven cars should factor in $250 per barrel...The US's love affair with big cars is slowly ending ...
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>The US's love affair with big cars is slowly ending ...
The love affair ended in the early 90s. You will only find a V8 on the options list for luxury sedans, pony cars and truck based vehicles nowadays.
But, if Volvo can make a 4cyl supercharged, turbo hybrid as powerful, relaxed, reliable, cheap-and-easy-to-fix as a small block Chevy they should do well.
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generally speaking it's a bit of a shame.
looking at the general trend, give it 15 years and even Lamborghini, Aston Martin etc will not be making V8 engines any more.
looks like we will have to savour the sound.
I also hear that formula 1 cars may change their engines to Turbo based 1.6L engines.
It just won't sound the same will it ?
bear in mind that F1 cars may put out tonnes of emissions, they are not on the track every day so surely they put out less emissions overall.
Looks like the tree huggers are winning !
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Senna was winning champioships piloting a 1.5 V6 Honda turbo engine.
Apparently 1300+bhp in practice was being put out by these bad boys.
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Engine installation and soundproofing make far more difference to the overall experience than the number of cylinders. I have a five-cylinder diesel Volvo and I used to think it would be a pity to part with it; this was based on driving four-cylinder diesels in similarly-sized cars by Citroën, Ford, VW and Toyota that felt and sounded agricultural by comparison, with no compensating improvement in fuel economy.
But more recently I've driven Volvo's new D3 in a V70 - still a five but a smaller one, yet subjectively just as capable as my D5, just as pleasant to drive, and using significantly less fuel - and a four-cylinder 1.6 S60. That was amazingly good, in terms of both drivability - no hint of being underpowered - and noise and smoothness. I've also travelled in a friend's newish four-cylinder diesel Passat, which is a world away in refinement from the PD years. I've not been in a BMW recently but reports here suggest they're better still.
So rather than parroting the moronic term 'tree hugger', a more reasoned expression might be 'the scientific consensus is that we need to reduce our emissions of carbon dioxide from fossil fuels, and engineers have responded by making smaller engines that are more capable, refined and economical than ever before.' Otherwise you might as well mourn the decline of the biplane or the ox cart.
Anyway, weren't 1.5-litre four-cylinder turbos the F1 norm in the 1980s?
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The imminent end of 5+ cylinder engines is exactly why I went out and bought myself one of the last of the line C5 3.0 V6 petrols. It wasn't all that quick, but it was fun in a floaty Citroën way and it most definitely did make a lovely sound.
I especially liked the way it picked up with so much torque at low revs, with none of the hesitation that you get from turbo charged engines with less cylinders. The power delivery was truly linear, right from idle up to the red line. Beautiful.
New engines with fancy hybrid assist, twin turbos etc just don't drive in the same way, even if the performance stats on paper are as good, or better.
Of course, I got bored and sold it on for another 4 pot. Which just goes to show...
I would like to own a nice naturally aspirated straight six whilst you can still get one, and then I'm done. Give me your 3 pot 3 turbo hybrids with 200bhp and 100mpg and I'll try and be happy! :)
Last edited by: oilburner on Thu 8 Sep 11 at 11:15
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What was that V6 like, oilburner? How thirsty was it?
In my seemingly endless hunt for something interesting to replace the Prelude, this week I came across a really nice late V6 Peugeot 406 coupe and I'm tempted.
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I keep looking at what i might replace the MB with when it passes on, probably end up with an auto Diesel of some sort (Sonata/i40/Optima probably) but one particular car has been tempting me, the ludicrous boot because of the hybrid batteries ruining the car in no small way.
Lexus GS 450h, which appears to rival Porsche's for performance but driven briskly normally returns 6 pot Diesel economy.
It's only a 3.5 V6 petrol , but it's electric power alone gives more bhp than many 2 litre petrols, add the two and it's giving more than most V8 petrols.
15 years down the line i daresay the same performance and better economy will be available from an engine half the size.
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For a piece of admittedly trivial and highly subjective social commentary I do sense a shift in perceived values of cars.
I have always worked in the branded fashion industry. An environment which contains more than its fair share of perhaps unhealthily image concious people. Once upon a time it was of critical importance to many of them to be seen in the right, and by that I mean often expensive cars.
There has though been a gradual shift over the past ten years or so. The younger generation in the business seem far less concerned with the standard, make or age of their cars.
I know very successful highly paid company directors who choose not to have company cars but prefer to have that benefit in their salaries and who drive, for example, ten year old base model Golfs.
I could have had a £50k BMW X5 as my company car but due to the tax implications I chose to have a Nissan of half that value. No one seems to care and I've certainly never had a customer remark on it or tell me they won't be doing business with us because I picked them up from the station in a workaday car!
At one time though the standard of company car one was issued with seemed to be of critical importance to people and was pretty much seen as a measure of their status. While this may still be the case with some it really doesn't appear to concern this group much anymore which given their predilection for brand prejudices comes as something of a surprise.
Conversely, my wife works in corporate banking and anything non-premium in the car park is a bit of a style faux-pas apparently. Having said that, they seem happy enough to wear a Marks and Spencer's suit while driving an M5 so it's just a different perspective I suppose.
There will of course always be a market for premium products and so there should be, but the trend I see in my little corner would seem to be one of prudence rather than conspicuous consumerism when it comes to cars.
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I've seen something similar where I work, Humph. The salesmen have their BMW 3 coupés, and there a couple of expensive German machines outside, including one 911, but most of us have very ordinary motors, and the VP I work for comes to work in a ten-year-old Renault. The contrast of the what-do-you-drive company car culture where I worked ten years ago could hardly be greater.
The cylinder question is reminiscent of the fuss in some quarters when Boeing introduced the 777. How could a plane with only two engines be a serious long-haul machine? And yet, 15 years on, 777s are everywhere and Airbus has practically given up trying to sell the four-engined A340 against it, and there'll be no four-engined derivative of the forthcoming A350.
A few people still cling to the idea that a big twin lacks the romance of a 747, but most travellers know that once you're wedged into your 17-inch wide economy seat there's (literally) no room for romance, and if you're in the comfy chairs up front you probably don't care either way.
In other words, smaller car engines are just the new reality. We'll get used to them and -unlike the planes - they may even leave us more room inside.
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so who would want a 1.0L 3 pot Vauxhall Zafira then ?
I wouldn't.
the engine won't last five minutes.
Just look at the 1.6L Zafira's second hand.
Plenty about as no one wants gutless carp thats seen better days.
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>> I wouldn't.
>> the engine won't last five minutes.
If it was a hybrid or similar where the engine is only topping up the prime source of power then it might well turn out a fine vehicle.
So far Toyota's Prius hybrids have an earned an enviable reliability record, taxi service too, from quite small engines in heavy cars, Honda's emhones smaller than Toyota's ISTR.
I imagine our single power source cars will be in a tiny minority in twenty years.
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>> What was that V6 like, oilburner? How thirsty was it?
>> In my seemingly endless hunt for something interesting to replace the Prelude, this week I
>> came across a really nice late V6 Peugeot 406 coupe and I'm tempted.
>>
It was sublime. A little vibration at idle, but not much. On the move it was smooth and near silent at normal cruising speeds. Open up the throttle and give it some and then it made an awesome growl. Boot up from rest on say, a motorway slip road and you were up to 70mph+ before you're even half way to joining the motorway. It made it easy to adjust speed to merge into traffic too.
Economy wise I recorded an average of 22mpg:
www.fuelly.com/driver/theoilburner/c5
Although it doesn't show on fuelly, I did manage to get the trip computer to show 31-33 mpg on long journeys (over 50 miles or so) when I could hold myself back to a steady 60mph cruise..
Recommended if you can afford the fuel! Mine was a later model with the 6 speed auto, I believe they were better then the earlier 4 speed models, but I don't have experience of the other 'box.
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Hmmmmm. Thank you. This one's a manual, which puts me off a bit.
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From what I heard about the reliability of the 4 speed auto, the manual could be a very good thing indeed! Go on, you only live once... ;)
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As soon as the V8 engined M3 is within budget, I'm having one.
With luck it will be sooner rather than later.
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Presumably Volvo are going to keep their 5-cylinder engines a little longer though? Or are they also due for the chop?
I had a chance to buy a V8 XC90 when I lived in Dubai - I knew I'd regret turning down my one and only opportunity to experience a V8...! I settled for the "sensible" 3.2 straight 6... sigh!
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I dunno, I don't think you were hard done by. Personally, I prefer a nice super smooth straight six to a burbly V8 any day. Like I have a chance of owning either!! :)
Volvo's petrol 5 pots are already history. I imagine the diesel 5 pot, especially the new 2.0 will be around for a few years yet, but after that, who can tell...
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I'm now determined to find me a cheap S60 5-pot circa 2003 - a cracking engine!
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Volvo - Fancy a V6/V8 engine - you'd better buy soon - Boxsterboy
