Best, or just sweetest 4 cylinder engines?

[aterribleusername]

Limpet said:

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.

The 1.25 gets my vote, had one in a 2005 Fiesta that I hated but the engine was brilliant and the only real reason I kept the car as long as I did. Just loved to be kept above 3k and never put a foot wrong, even had a subtle burble on the overrun too. I did consider putting the engine into a Mk1 Ka, that was the combo that Ford should have done!

[Timberwolf]

I'd agree on the 16V Alfa Twin Spark engine, not least for the idea of putting an engine that doesn't wake up until 3000RPM and doesn't wake up properly until 5000RPM into fairly ordinary, cooking-model road cars. Nice engine note too, lots of subtle little sounds to give you feedback on what you're doing, probably one of the last four cylinders to make actual engine noises rather than some faked CAD approximation thereof.

It's the only engine where I found myself regularly clattering into the rev limiter because it doesn't "tighten" at all, you hit 7000RPM and if anything it's pulling even stronger. Some of the people on the Alfa forums at the time said they'd remapped the limiter to 8000 and were totally fine, which doesn't sound outside the realms of possibility. (It's a tough old unit when it comes to the basic internals, just a shame about all the stuff which is bolted to it.)

[Draxindustries1]

pablo said:

Most of my favourite engines are 4 cylinders albeit the race derivatives

Ford Crossflow
Ford FVA
Ford BDA/BDG etc
Ferrari 750 Monza
BMW M12
BMW S14
Lotus Twincam

Ford crossflow & pre crossflow are my two favourites. There's just so much you can do to them .
Probably in the minority but the Lotus twin cam can be more trouble than it's worth.
Not a four pot but a few years back I had a Cosworth GAA 3.4 v6. That thing could rev to infinity!

[Garett]

2 that I am a fan of that have briefly been mentioned already.

B234R - Saab 9000 2.3 turbo. An incredibly strong engine with great torque, not revvy, and not the best sounding but by God they can pack a punch!

M16A - Suzuki Swift Sport 1.6 16v. VVT comes in about 4500 rpm and then revs sweetly and smoothly all the way up to 7100 rpm.

[blade7]

s m said:

blade7 said:

This had twin 45 Weber DCOE's without air filters, and an open exhaust.. Probably only had 140 bhp on a good day, but you could hear it coming from around 1/2 a mile away. And it sounded the absolute Boxxocks. Sweet no, memorable yes.

Always wanted an X-pack - budget E30 M3 back in the mid 80s.
Had to make do with the standard shell but I had a similar engine - mine was a 2.1 on twin 44IDFs with filters and an EARS system that sounded great
Fast enough to make a 2.8 Capri look slow round Combe and loads of smiles per miles

One of my other RS2's, had a Ford group one engine, on twin 45 Dellorto's, with a lairy cam. That one had a real gurgle up to 3k revs . Sold it to Mike Young one the dark night.

[Sulaco]

Carfield said:

The old SR20DET engine in the Nissan 200SX was a lovely engine for a 4 pot

Tough engine, and bags of character once allowed to breathe properly. Lovely old school lag and booOOST. Sounded like spanners in a cement mixer though, that VVT rattle.

The CA18 from the S13 probably the sweeter engine, but weaker bottom end.

I loved the Ford/Yamaha 1.7 in the Puma, really loved being revved and sounded great.

I had the EA888 in a 2015 Golf R. Didn’t like it really. As standard it was too linear, got the job done, but there was no character to it. Better with a map, but it never felt anything other than a appliance that got the job done (which actually somes up the whole car, but that’s for another thread….).

Edited by Sulaco on Friday 12th August 22:46

[TameRacingDriver]

Sulaco said:

I loved the Ford/Yamaha 1.7 in the Puma, really loved being revved.

I really am genuinely perplexed for the amount of love this engine gets on here. It's alright, decent even, but ultimately very 'meh'.

[300bhp/ton]

TameRacingDriver said:

Sulaco said:

I loved the Ford/Yamaha 1.7 in the Puma, really loved being revved.

I really am genuinely perplexed for the amount of love this engine gets on here. It's alright, decent even, but ultimately very 'meh'.

100% agree. I loved the Puma. But owned a K-Series MGF when I test drove the Puma back in the day. The engine compared to the K-Series was a real let down, despite the rest of the Puma being pretty cool.

Edited by 300bhp/ton on Saturday 13th August 16:08

[donkmeister]

I was pretty impressed with the small petrol turbo 4-bangers VAG fitted to cars about 6 or 7 years ago with cylinder deactivation. They weren't exciting, far from it, but they were very refined as 4 cylinder engines go. I had a Seat something or other and it would just flash a message up to announce it was now running on 2 cylinders, and TBH I wouldn't have known otherwise.

Excellent MPG too, I think it was about 50MPG on a good run.

[donkmeister]

300bhp/ton said:

TameRacingDriver said:

Sulaco said:

I loved the Ford/Yamaha 1.7 in the Puma, really loved being revved.

I really am genuinely perplexed for the amount of love this engine gets on here. It's alright, decent even, but ultimately very 'meh'.

100% agree. I loved the Puma. But owned a K-Series MGF when I test drove the Puma back in the day. The engine compared to the K-Series was a real let down, despite the rest of the Puma. Wing pretty cool.

There were two versions of the 1.7 though, possibly those who rave drove the more powerful one? Just a thought.

However, after going to Wikipedia to check I wasn't misremembering about the greater and lesser 1.7s, today I learned that in Brazil they did a 1.0 supercharged Fiesta in 2002. Never knew there had been a factory supercharged Zetec!

[Yazza54]

Honda B series are just lovely. Had a B18C type R engine in a kit car that was the absolute nuts.

[bangerhoarder]

I doubt many of those (us) raving about the Sigma (Zetec SE) have experienced the Racing Puma iteration with 155bhp - which is another thing again. The positive comments will just be about the 125bhp version in the Puma, which is a sweet, revvy and decent little engine. No, it’s not that powerful, but it hits the title of the thread.

Especially when the SR20 is mentioned.

[Deefor62]

I loved the little 1.3 V4 in my Lancia Fulvia coupe. Seemed to punch above it’s weight considering it was just a 1.3.

[dajw]

Pleasantly surprised by just how good the 1.8 turbo is in my A110 Premiere Edition. It sounds good, it pulls hard. It’s not “pretty” though the blue hoses I’ve got in the bay improve things. Overall, massively impressed. I prefer it to my wife’s Golf R engine, and I’m coming to it from a v8 vantage & 981 boxster before it (which was absolutely the best sounding thing).

[Zarco]

Those sure are some pretty blue hoses.

[Electrics not for me]

Rover 1.8, as fitted to Caterhams 20 years ago was decent. Admittedly reliability issues plagued them but i thought that 250 bhp from 1.8 with no charging was amazing.

[Gary C]

Deefor62 said:

I loved the little 1.3 V4 in my Lancia Fulvia coupe. Seemed to punch above it’s weight considering it was just a 1.3.

Ooo, good choice.

[Nicks90]

biggbn said:

The generation of Saab four pots derived from the old Triumph engine was a decent unit, particulalry when turbocharged. Long lived too.

Does anyone have any more info on this?
My dad was a massive triumph fan and we had a procession of triumph dolly sprints, stags and toledos in our household for him and t'wife to drive. Fond memories of forever breaking down going to Wales for our summer hols.

[Magnum 475]

BAMoFo said:

Magnum 475 said:

Two stand out in my motoring life:

The sweet Alfa Romeo TS 16v from the 155 / 156 era

The Porsche 944 2.5 & 3.0 engines

The thing they both have in common is the use of a very effective balance shaft system, and a willingness to rev.


My other favorite is the ancient 1,147cc Triumph engine from the 60s Heralds and Spitfires. There's nothing sweet about it, but it was fitted in the first car I owned after passing my test. A few choice mods made it very enjoyable to drive

Adding the balancer shaft provides the smoothness but I'd rather have the extra cylinders. I thought that the 2.5 litre engine in the 944 turbo was smooth and very effective at making power but sounded dull.

Definitely prefer more cylinders. Ideally flat 6 But in its defence, the 944T engine is incredibly tunable. You can up it from 250 to 280ish bhp with little more than a wastegate spring. It still only needs relatively light mods to take it to 350. However, sound wise it's a bit 'meh', but as 4 cylinders go it's one of the better ones.

[willmagrath]

Another vote for the dirty diesel VAG 1.9 TDi. I had one in a Fabia VRS. it was just so smooth and revvy compared to any other, much newer 4 cylinder diesels I have driven. It had bags of torque, revved out quite nicely and hardly used any fuel!