Best, or just sweetest 4 cylinder engines?
Discussion
HazzaT said:
The EA888 is smooth, I wouldn't particularly say it's sweet but it does the job without a fuss 90% of the time.
I think it tends to be the purely direct injection ones that are clattery, particularly at low revs.
Got a Gen 2 EA888 engine. Way less clattery that the Mercedes M264 in our C300.I think it tends to be the purely direct injection ones that are clattery, particularly at low revs.
captain_cynic said:
biggbn said:
Honda four pots
End of thread. Specifically the F20C and K20.
https://youtu.be/CLbzrtPaMVM
The 1990s Vauxhall Astra GTE Red Top 2.0 16v motor, an absolute power house. Great torque and pretty zingy and revvy too.
Having sampled Rover K series engines, and the Honda VTECs, the Vauxhall engine ticks more boxes imho, it has no weak point in the rev range and sounds properly rorty. Massively better than the smoky, torqueless 4 cylinder Ford CVH engines of the time (and I owned a few Fords with those in).
The way the power built was solid and addictive. No binary V-TEC engine there just solid all throughout the rev range. Cosworth had some major involvement into the engine, could be made to rev to around 9-10,000 rpm from memory, and it was just very good.
I would consider owning an Astra GTE 16v in the 'dream garage' just for that motor. Even the 1.8 8v Astra SRi had a sprinkle of torque and nice pickup that made it feel a bit special, not sure if Cosworth had any input into that engine though.
Having sampled Rover K series engines, and the Honda VTECs, the Vauxhall engine ticks more boxes imho, it has no weak point in the rev range and sounds properly rorty. Massively better than the smoky, torqueless 4 cylinder Ford CVH engines of the time (and I owned a few Fords with those in).
The way the power built was solid and addictive. No binary V-TEC engine there just solid all throughout the rev range. Cosworth had some major involvement into the engine, could be made to rev to around 9-10,000 rpm from memory, and it was just very good.
I would consider owning an Astra GTE 16v in the 'dream garage' just for that motor. Even the 1.8 8v Astra SRi had a sprinkle of torque and nice pickup that made it feel a bit special, not sure if Cosworth had any input into that engine though.
Edited by Turkey on Friday 5th August 22:49
The best I've owned were a couple of Fiat Lampredi twin-cams back in the 70s.
But I did get a passenger ride in a Caterham around Donnington that had a tweaked Vauxhall red-top and it was just hilarious. Although maybe the engine took 2nd place to the overall experience!
Honda S2000 sounds like a lot of fun too.
But I did get a passenger ride in a Caterham around Donnington that had a tweaked Vauxhall red-top and it was just hilarious. Although maybe the engine took 2nd place to the overall experience!
Honda S2000 sounds like a lot of fun too.
Less than half the cars I've owned have been four pots, but the only one that stands out was a Citroen C2 Loeb with a TU5-JP4S engine.
It wasn't particularly powerful (circa 125bhp), and it needed to be worked quite hard, but when above 4.5k RPM it was a really really sweet engine that was really eager and quite torquey. Throw it down a country lane, and keep above 4.5k RPM and it was a really capable little car. It almost sounded like it had a supercharger whine to it too. It just begged for a thrashing.
It was really a one trick pony though. It was awful on long motorway journeys and didn't have a particularly good turning circle and wasn't that economical either, but as a cheap warm hatch to attack a country lane without getting into serious trouble it was excellent.
It wasn't particularly powerful (circa 125bhp), and it needed to be worked quite hard, but when above 4.5k RPM it was a really really sweet engine that was really eager and quite torquey. Throw it down a country lane, and keep above 4.5k RPM and it was a really capable little car. It almost sounded like it had a supercharger whine to it too. It just begged for a thrashing.
It was really a one trick pony though. It was awful on long motorway journeys and didn't have a particularly good turning circle and wasn't that economical either, but as a cheap warm hatch to attack a country lane without getting into serious trouble it was excellent.
I am not a massive fan of four cylinder engines. The Toyota unit in my Elise is ok, but the Honda K20 is a better implementation of that kind of thing. The 2.3 turbo unit in my Saab was powerful and relatively smooth and quiet, but you wouldn’t want to listen to it - the V6 diesel I have now is smoother and sounds better, sad to say.
The Ford Sigma is a lovely thing. The 1.7 Puma VVT lump is the highlight, but the little 1.25 and 1.4 variants are super sweet things as well. We had a 1.4 Fiesta mk4. It only had about 90 bhp, but delivered it so willingly, smoothly and frugally that it was just a delight to use. Spun so smoothly and eagerly to its limiter. One of those engines that you just didn't feel you were harming at all by wringing its neck.
Also have a massive soft spot for the Vauxhall XE Red Top. Turned a number of pretty average road cars into absolute weapons, and was both tuneable, and very handy in motorsport as well.
Final mention is the Cosworth YB. Not sweet by any stretch of the imagination (coarse and harsh, perhaps), but the idea that a 2.0 engine can whack out 550 reliable horsepower in race trim isn't exactly shabby in 2022. Which makes it all the more remarkable that this engine was doing it over 30 years ago! It is to fours what the RB26 is to sixes. Just an absolute powerhouse.
Also have a massive soft spot for the Vauxhall XE Red Top. Turned a number of pretty average road cars into absolute weapons, and was both tuneable, and very handy in motorsport as well.
Final mention is the Cosworth YB. Not sweet by any stretch of the imagination (coarse and harsh, perhaps), but the idea that a 2.0 engine can whack out 550 reliable horsepower in race trim isn't exactly shabby in 2022. Which makes it all the more remarkable that this engine was doing it over 30 years ago! It is to fours what the RB26 is to sixes. Just an absolute powerhouse.
Sorry, I meant car engines, but if we're talking bikes then any number of 4 cylinder engines are great as they are so small and have tiny cylinder size. I'm currently running a low-miles Gen 2 Hyabusa from 2010 and it's a lovely engine in that thing. I love the effortless 100+ mph cruising ability and silly 0-100 if needed.
But car wise, my old S2000 must be at or near the top. A later car, it was such a clean revving motor.
But car wise, my old S2000 must be at or near the top. A later car, it was such a clean revving motor.
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