V-2, V-4 do they exist?

[kombolcha]

i know there are V6, V8, V10...... V20 engines..

but do V2 and V4 engines exist? i've never heard of it or heard anyone talk about it, as far as i know, anything below 6 cylinders (for a car) is an inline4 engine (yes i know there's also inline6..but not the point)

my dad says there are many cars all over europe with V4 engines. if so, why aren't there any in the US?

[pto]

Inlines last longer. And motorcycles might have a variation of a v2. I thought they were called twins, but we'll see.

[mercuryx013]

The Geo Metro had a 3 cyclinder engine.

Also, the VW Jetta has a 5 cylinder:

http://cars.about.com/od/volkswagen/ss/ag_05jetta_gall_7.htm

V-Engine configurations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_engine

[XanoZuke]

V2 and V4 engines DO exist, my country is full of 'em :D almost all japan cars have a V4 engine (at least all 2000 and below). Why doesn't northamerica has? Dunno :pinch:

[linsook]

V2 and V4 engines DO exist, my country is full of 'em :D almost all japan cars have a V4 engine (at least all 2000 and below). Why doesn't northamerica has? Dunno :pinch:

you sure it aint an i4?

[kombolcha]

Inlines last longer. And motorcycles might have a variation of a v2. I thought they were called twins, but we'll see.

i think you're right on that..

so it seems that they do exist, but now i need to find out why they don't sell/make/import them here.

[TheWahbinator]

WTH there's no such thing as V4 because the cylinders of a four-cylinder car aren't shaped in a "V" (anymore, the wikipedia article said it did until the 60's

[Dallas]

There are 'V-2' in motorcycles, better known as twits. (Harley Davidson, Ducatis) and a few V-4s in motorcycles (Honda Interceptor is the only one I know of off the top of my head). Honda's RC211V MotoGP bike is a V-5.

But V-4s don't make enough power to justify the cost of mass producing them. You can get more power out of an inline 4 and with an inline 4 you only have to make 1 cylinder head and whatnot.

make sence?

[kombolcha]

great, thats what i wanted to read.. i just won myself a $50 bet :happy:

[hifive]

Wait. I thought most cars were stock with a V4?

[kombolcha]

nope..

i did some more research.. looks like Ford was still producing V4 engines until the late 80's.. they have these cargo vans, i don't know the model name, but they're running on V4 engines..

and they simply don't use them now since they are not reliable and very low in power.. a 1700cc V4 only produces about 68HP.. while an inline4 1700cc produces.. what? 130HP??

and just looking at pictures of a V4.. it just looks cheap and weak.. like an oversized lawn mower engine.

[pto]

Also: Inline sixes have more torque, so most suvs will stray away from the v-6.

[123_kid]

Piston configuration does not has as much to do with torque as displacement does. An inline-6 and a V-6 with similar displacement and similar amounts of technology will produce very similar torque numbers. Just for illustration purposes, I'll give some figures below.

BMW 3.0 I6: 220lb-ft

Honda 3.0 V6: 211lb-ft

Now for the SUV engine comparison...

GM 4.2 I6: 277lb-ft

Nissan 4.0 V6: 291lb-ft

[Pilsbury]

But V-4s don't make enough power to justify the cost of mass producing them. You can get more power out of an inline 4 and with an inline 4 you only have to make 1 cylinder head and whatnot.

make sence?

Doesn't make sense to me at all...

Let's wind back to 1963 when 100bhp was a lot in a European family saloon.

Lancia (who produced the first V engines) had a V4 engine that in 1.1 form made 60bhp, and later 70bhp. That's pretty good for a modern 1.1 car, let alone a 40 year old one.

In 1.6 form it put out a very healthy 135bhp. That's a lot even today - 85bhp / litre.

So, V4's can put out as much power as an inline 4. (For comparison, the contemporary European (Ford) Lotus Cortina put out 105bhp from a 1.6, and it was classed as a performance car in it's day)

V2's are also known as V-Twins and are common in bikes.

[mrogers]

V2 and V4 engines DO exist, my country is full of 'em :D almost all japan cars have a V4 engine (at least all 2000 and below). Why doesn't northamerica has? Dunno :pinch:

Unless Nissan, Toyota, Honda and the lot all engineered totally different engine lines for NA and Japan, you have I-4s also.

The reason there aren't (many) V-4s is that an inline cylinder engine is inherently smoother and more stable (and hence more reliable in the long run) than a V-configuration. So whenever, possible (read: whenever space permits), manufacturers use an inline engine. Most cars, however, don't have the space for an inline-6 unless it's very precisely engineered (BMW, Porsche), and they don't want to spend the money/time so they stick a V-6 in there. V-configurations -- and VW's new "W" configuration -- are all more compact than inlines.

So in short, given the space it's better to use an inline-cylinder engine. Which is why you always see inline-4s.

[Shibby]

There is V4s but are now uncommon, They had them in old classic cars in the 1900 - 1960 really.

The reason why some cars use a V instead of an inline is to do with vibrations. Sometimes if there is space and you want alot of power a V would be better as it more balanced and stress on the engine isn't as high.

Small cars normaly have 3 cylinders family cars have 4 cylinders. 4x4 will normaly use both on differnt version. More powerful versions are normaly V6's

[mrogers]

There is V4s but are now uncommon, They had them in old classic cars in the 1900 - 1960 really.

The reason why some cars use a V instead of an inline is to do with vibrations. Sometimes if there is space and you want alot of power a V would be better as it more balanced and stress on the engine isn't as high.

You're incorrect. Inline engines are smoother and with less vibration, but they take up more space than a V. BMW has used inline 6 engines for ages, as has Porsche, and now GM is starting to use them in some SUVs. They're generally better than V-6s, but as I said take more space and therefore require more careful engineering to package correctly.

Small cars normaly have 3 cylinders family cars have 4 cylinders. 4x4 will normaly use both on differnt version. More powerful versions are normaly V6's

That may be true for the UK/EU, but the original poster is from the US and we have almost no 3-cylinder cars (can't think of a single one that's still sold here, actually), and 4-cylinder cars are only the smallest of the small. Most family cars here are V6's. And there's not a whole lot of 4-cylinder SUVs here that anyone would actually buy. The least an SUV here needs is usually a 6, more commonly an 8. Not that I condone our buying habits, I'm just informing.

EDIT: for clarity, I should add that Porsche actually uses what some consider a variant of the inline, called the flat-6. The cylinders are horizontally opposed.

Edited December 8, 2005 by mrogers

[Scudworth]

I dont know why people are saying 4 cylinders are uncommon, there are plenty of them around.

The '90 something Corsica I drove was a 4 cylinder. So was my parents hunk of crap Taurus, and so is my dads Truck....4 cylinder truck.....why.....WHY?!

[Pilsbury]

You're incorrect. Inline engines are smoother and with less vibration, but they take up more space than a V. BMW has used inline 6 engines for ages, as has Porsche, and now GM is starting to use them in some SUVs. They're generally better than V-6s, but as I said take more space and therefore require more careful engineering to package correctly.

EDIT: for clarity, I should add that Porsche actually uses what some consider a variant of the inline, called the flat-6. The cylinders are horizontally opposed.

A flat 6 (or flat 4/8/12) as in the Boxster, Cayman and Carrera is actually a V6 engine, not an inline-6.

It just happens to be a very wide angle V6 (180 degrees, as opposed to the more common 60 or 90 degree angles of a regular V)

The only inline engines used by Porsche were in the 924, 944 and 968 inline-4's

[mrogers]

That makes sense. Like I said, I've heard some people call them inline-6s before but I supposed that's incorrect.

[shockz]

I dont know why people are saying 4 cylinders are uncommon, there are plenty of them around.

The '90 something Corsica I drove was a 4 cylinder. So was my parents hunk of crap Taurus, and so is my dads Truck....4 cylinder truck.....why.....WHY?!

4-Cylinders are common... V4's aren't.

I've driven a ton of 4-Cylinders... each very different. I've had some very fast I4's that could run circles with other v6 cars and heavy cars that use v8's. Then I've had I4's that were sooo slow. Upsettingly slow. Right now I'm stuck with a fuel eating gas guzzler 3.5 v6.

[Zip]

A flat 6 (or flat 4/8/12) as in the Boxster, Cayman and Carrera is actually a V6 engine, not an inline-6.

It just happens to be a very wide angle V6 (180 degrees, as opposed to the more common 60 or 90 degree angles of a regular V)

The only inline engines used by Porsche were in the 924, 944 and 968 inline-4's

the boxer shares similarities with both inline and v engines, the pistons crank in the same axis as a inline (albiet half do it the other way) but in the same way as a v engine they have separate cam gear and intake/exhaust.

[wrench]

A flat 6 (or flat 4/8/12) as in the Boxster, Cayman and Carrera is actually a V6 engine, not an inline-6.

It just happens to be a very wide angle V6 (180 degrees, as opposed to the more common 60 or 90 degree angles of a regular V)

That's an interesting way of looking at it, but a flat 4 or 6 in not a V engine. That's like saying an inline 6 is a very narrow V6. A V is so named because the 2 banks of cylinders form a V shape when viewed from the front. A flat engine, also called a horizontally opposed engine is a different configuration, just like V engines and inline engines are different configurations.

[Compuspital]

I have a 1996 Ford Thunderbird with a V8 4.6L 240HP and a 1993 Thunderbird with a 3.8L V6 150HP and also an 2004 F-150 with a 4.6L V8 at 250HP My friend has SVT Mustang Cobra R with about 400HP (Now back on topic. I think the 2 Cyl would be in a Motorcycle it it resembles a V2 the V4 is in the Mini Cooper)

[sn00pie]

^Your friend has a Cobra R! :|