Volkswagen has ruled out using two-cylinder engines in its Up city car, due next year.
The firm has been at the forefront of engine downsizing technology with its three-cylinder petrol and diesel motors. But R&D chief Ulrich Hackenberg believes downsizing is now nearing its limits, despite the recent introduction of Fiat’s new two-cylinder TwinAir engine.
Red Autocae's first drive of the Fiat 500 TwinAir
“Improvements can now only be made in performance and economy, not in making the engines any smaller,” he said. Instead, the Up will make use of three-cylinder engines that “will really advance the technology and make strong use of it”, he said.
VW Jetta technical boss Michael Hinz admits that the firm has experimented with two-cylinder technology, but says it needs to improve its three-cylinder engines before developing smaller engines. “I’ve seen two-cylinder cars running,” he said, “but from a production point of view it’d be very hard.
“Even three-cylinder engines are very expensive as they’re not as smooth or refined as we’d like. But we’re not going to abandon them,” he added.
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Re: VW rules out 2cyl engines
You have picked the lower spec engines, conveniently forgetting they also have a 70hp 1.2 3 pot, which wouldn't look very good with your argument.
Anyway horsepower is not the ideal way of comparing engines, it should be torque for roadcar engines when comparing apples to apples. Thats more 'real-world'.
Not going to argue that VWs 1.2 engine in 6 or 12 valve versions are still not very good.
I'm of the opinion that engines with fewer cylinders have fewer bearing surfaces on the crank to spread out the load, therefore 'could' wear quicker than an equivalent size engine with more cylinders.
..or that VW cannot best the twin-air, so they are not going to bother.
Re: VW rules out 2cyl engines
VW make a car that can do 270MPH with a W16 engine & 4 Turbos, 4 wheel drive & can be driven to Tescos for the Gin & Tonic yet cant make a 2 Cylinder engine work?
There has to be another reason....
Re: VW rules out 2cyl engines
OK, now you're mixing up durability with size.
Yes, people have a perception that a small engine can't move a big car as well as a big engine. For example, Audi have changed all their car badging for MY11, removing the capacity badge from the rear of the car and simply showing 'TFSI' or 'TDI' on everything from A1 to A8.
But that's got nothing to do with your irrational assumption that Fiat can't build a technically advanced and durable engine...