Did you know you could get the new Nissan Rogue with a 1.5-liter three-cylinder engine? The three-cylinder motor has been around, in various forms, throughout the years. Almost always the three-cylinder engine has represented an efficient yet undesirable poverty-spec car (sorry Geo Metro!). No more. The three-cylinder is here to stay and it’s gone slightly upmarket.
There’s a certain inevitability to this. Turbocharging, direct injection, variable valve-timing, et cetera have led to V6s as powerful as V8s and, now, inline-four motors as powerful as V6s (and many V8s). What’s there to replace the four-cylinder motor in cheap cars? Three is a magic number, after all.
This Morning Dump won’t be all motor as we talk about a car with 4x the cylinders and two offshoots of the UAW strike, one quite predictable and one a big surprise.
The Rise Of The Three-Cylinder
Right off the bat, it’s important to note that the absolute king of powertrains in the United States is the four-cylinder engine. Whether in boxer or inline configuration (or V4 if you’re driving a Taunus), America can’t get enough of the fourbanger.
This data comes from intelligence firm S&P Global Mobility, which points out that four-cylinder engines still make up 57.2% of all sales in the first three quarters of 2023. The once-popular V6 and V8 engines have dropped to 26.8% and 10.9%, respectively.
According to this data, as recently as 2019 the three-cylinder engine made up less than 1% of total sales, which I’m thinking was Mirages and maybe leftover Fiestas? By comparison, in just four years that number has jumped to 6.2%, which is a huge jump.
What’s the deal? S&P points to the rise of the subcompact+ crossover like the Buick Encore, Chevy Trax (which our Thomas Hundal quite likes), and Ford Bronco Sport:
S&P Global Mobility data shows US new personal registrations of 589,026 for subcompact-plus utility models through July, compared to just 123,033 personal registrations for subcompact utilities.
Consumers moving up from a subcompact utility face a modest bump in monthly payments, from an average of about $422 for a subcompact, with a $40 increase to get into a subcompact-plus, according to AutoCreditInsight data supplied to S&P Global Mobility by TransUnion. Moving up further to a compact utility would entail about $ 100 per month in incremental payment from a subcompact-plus.
The story goes on to point out that the lack of consistent inventories has made it “impossible” to tell what the market really wants. My suspicion is that there’s a ton of upside and market demand left for these vehicles and improved inventories will result in more sales and, therefore, more three-bangers (that sounds wrong).
Detroit Automakers Will Start Reducing Incentives
Speaking of inventories… just as vehicles are starting to become affordable again (depending on how you’re financing them), the strike is reportedly leading automakers to reduce inventories as they face the possibility of newly reduced production.
September incentive promotions will be allowed to run their course with cuts appearing in October, Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ head of insights, told Automotive News on Friday, the day the UAW had announced plans to expand its strike to new Ford and GM plants.
J.D. Power Data and Analytics Vice President Tyson Jominy on Monday said automakers establish incentives at the beginning of the sales month, with the first incentive bulletins expected to appear overnight between Monday and Tuesday.
Unsurprisingly, this isn’t going to apply to all vehicles from these automakers as the article goes on to point out:
Caldwell said incentives might not shrink on the high-inventory Jeep Gladiator even though Toledo Jeep Assembly factory workers are on strike, but other models would be “reined in,” Caldwell said. (Enough Gladiator inventory exists to manage at least a five-month strike, Cox Automotive Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke wrote in a UAW strike update posted Monday.)
It will be interesting to see what automakers do and if it’s a bellwether for the strikes themselves.
Trucking Volumes Crater Because Of Strike
There has been a lot of debate about how big the auto industry is in terms of percentage of the trucking market.
— Craig Fuller ????????????⚓️ (@FreightAlley) October 4, 2023
The range we’ve assumed is 4-8%.
The drop in trucking volumes over the past week suggest that it’s much bigger with volumes dropping 12%. pic.twitter.com/wzBD3ZIfD7
One fascinating way to look at the economy is through the trucking industry, which my buddy Joe Wiesenthal over at Bloomberg does with his co-host Tracy Alloway for their podcast “Odd Lots” (check out this episode in particular).
Trucking is both an upstream indicator (moving raw commodities/parts) as well as a downstream one (delivering assembled products/processed commodities). I’ve been keeping an eye on trucking volumes via Craig Fuller’s tweets (see above tweet) and it initially seemed somewhat contained.
Now it’s dropped off significantly. The most exciting part is that even the experts weren’t entirely sure how much of America’s total trucking volume was accounted for by the auto industry. While it’s possible something else is going on here, the UAW strike is the most obvious explanation at the moment for the drop and shows that trucking volumes are tied to automotive production to a greater extent than many people thought.
The V12 Aston Martin Valkyrie Hypercar Is Good
Le Mans is getting exciting again. The cars are good again. They’re not necessarily as loud or as wild as they used to be (the Glickenhaus car being the recent exception), but at least there are more of them.
You know what’s cool, though? The return of a V12 powerplants. Not a hybrid. Not a weird diesel. A damn V12. Will it be competitive when it goes racing in 2025? Who the hell knows? Who the hell cares?
It’s a V12!
It’s based on the Cosworth-built 6.5-liter V12 in the roadgoing Valkyrie that revs to 11,000 RPM and has about 1,000 horsepower. The one racing at Le Mans will probably not have 1,000 horsepower, but it’ll sound freakin’ amazing.
The Big Question
Would you buy a three-cylinder car? Have you?!?
Yes I own 2 cars with 3 cylinder engines:
1) Honda Insight Gen 1. When the battery was dead, it was slooooooow. Now its just slow lol but so reliable
2) Mercury Tracer 1.9. One of the spark plugs wires comes loose over time and it will switch to 3 cyl haha
I dont mind 3 cyl engines as long they are reliable and not paired to a CVT, give me a manual or normal auto transmission and its all good
The Gen 1 Insight is really an underrated car. Also a missed opportunity on Honda’s part to create an enthusiasts’ vehicle with more performance, similar fuel economy, at the same price point.
Had the Insight been RWD with a K-swap and the same low mass and low drag it is renown for, Honda could have had a 50 mpg car that could compete with the Porsche Boxsters, Audi TT 225 Quattros, BMW Z3s, Toyota MR2 Spyders, and the like of its time period, while possibly having a cheaper price. And the chassis is rust-proof and barring an accident, damned near indestructible.
Once I get land, a 1st gen Insight with a manual transmission is on my list of cars to keep. They’re rare and really good.
They’re doing all this expensive engineering to get power out of a small-displacement engine, over-stressing it and leading to possibly decreased longevity, in order to get an extra 5-10% to fuel economy vs a standard V6, while the cars are overweight lifted monstrosities with extra large drag-inducing grilles and wheels, drag-adding creases, plastic cladding everywhere, and a level of Baroque that can compete with the Sagrada Familia cathedral?
If they designed the cars to have half the aero drag, which is WELL within their engineering capabilities as earlier concepts over the last 50 years have shown, and downsized them a bit to reduce mass, they could get a 40%+ increase to highway fuel economy keeping the same engines, for not a whole lot of money per unit.
Tell me again why we must give up V8s? It seems as if this is all designed to perpetuate planned obsolescence instead of giving us the best product possible. The overly conservative industry, across the spectrum, dares not to be different or stand out. When it all bites them in the butt during the next economic crisis or energy crisis, why should we bail these companies out again?
I would say the thing about v-8’s these days is the longevity is getting killed by enviro designs such as MSDS and AFM/DFM so the benefits of an understressed powerful motor is somewhat negated. if they can pull off a GM colorado thing where they sell you the exact same motor just with different tune levels (maybe a few thing like piston oil coolers as well) then the cost of mfr drops quite a bit. I would definitely look for the money trail on a lot of this.
Bonus internet points for referencing La Sagrada Familia in an automotive context. Minus internet points for referring to La Sagrada Familia as Baroque.
(pedantic) It’s Spanish Late Gothic. (/pedantic)
You are technically correct, sir.
The best kind of correct!
Small engines these days are not ‘over-stressed’, even when turbo’d; this is not the 80’s anymore. You can take any 3-4cyl turbo engine made today, double its boost (and double its power & torque in the process) and it would still go 200,000 miles, providing YOU ARE DOING ITS MAINTENANCE AS REQUIRED.
Us ‘muricans have trouble following that last part.
V8’s were popular here only because when you combine low compression (outdated tech) with any kind of emissions regs, the mass of a land yacht and a slushbox, you kinda need a V8 to move around faster than walking.
Then why not put them in a Peterbilt? The more power per cylinder per displacement, the higher rpm it has to run more often to perform its job, the higher load it is under during a general duty cycle will absolutely wear any engine out faster. They can be overbuilt and modern electronics allows them to run closer to the edge (with less forgiveness as the margins are squeezed), but that all costs money and, at some point, the understressed larger engine starts being a better fit, except of course when it comes to gaming the EPA even if the understressed engine pulling a taller gear at a lower load is likely to do better more often in the real world with how people drive for longer miles with less problems and maybe the possibility of using cheaper fuel. If you drive like you’re in a funeral, anything will last. If you’ve got nothing else to do, but baby a car’s maintenance like it was decades ago, then that will extend their life, too (even if it’s not a guarantee), but you can only downsize an engine so far without downsizing the vehicle (which doesn’t appear to be happening any time soon) or otherwise consciously reducing the stress of its duty cycles to get the reliability of the bigger engine and promised mileage advantages of the weedwhacker one. Combine that with the cut budgets for new ICE R&D and how many OEMs seem to have forgotten how to do simple things like engineer oil pickups and proper oiling and cooling circuits (though the high rpms don’t help) there’s no way in hell I’d be buying anything with a 3 cylinder unless they knock the weight of the vehicle down to little more than a ton max.
Since you are replying to an original post lamenting the loss of V8s and V6s, I’d like to point out that there are very few Peterbilts bilt in the last 20 years with V8s (or V6s).
Large trucks like Peterbilts have been using inline-6s since the 1980s.
I’m replying to R Rr as can be seen under my name as he claims that smaller engines used to replace larger ones in a similar application aren’t overstressed as if some tech can change physics. It can allow an engine to operate within smaller safety margins to extract more power more reliably than in the past, but there is still more friction, heat, and stress in a smaller engine of equivalent output, which limits its time under high load between rebuilds while also requiring a higher load more often. The point is that tractor trailers don’t use small engines of equivalent hp (or more—a Hellcat engine makes more hp) because they won’t last in such an application. It’s an extreme example to make a point, it’s not about tractor trailers at all. I’m defending the lament about the loss of larger engines because the vehicles these smaller engines are being subbed into aren’t getting any lighter. Downsize the vehicle, then the engine can be downsized without much loss of durability because you’ve reduced the time the engine will have to operate under a high load, assuming equivalent vehicle usage.
Gimme a 3 cylinder range extender that has enough power to recharge the EV battery ,in addition to generating enough electrons to power the vehicle, and you can enable it at will.
Sooooo basically an i3?
With 50% more cylinders. Already have an i3 Rex, gimme an i3 Rex //M-EV
i8
People keep throwing this out there, but a range extender with enough power to take over as a generator when the battery is dead has to be just as big as an engine to power a conventional ICE car… plus 10% or so for conversion losses. Needs just as much cooling system as well, and because it runs at a much higher temperature than the battery, none of it can be shared.
As weird as it sounds, when I bought my Fiesta ST in 2018 I was also cross-shopping the poverty-spec 3-banger variant. However, there were very few out there and people wanted too much for the ones they had so I stepped up to the ST.
I have no problems with a 3-banger. I’d happily own a Geo Metro or a GR Corolla or any number of other interesting cars with that engine configuration.
GR Corolla is intriguing, time will tell how it survives the high strung engine design. The old Metro’s were work horses as long as you properly maintained them, especially timing belts, but many did not. Also driving one on the freeway was scary as hell. the thing were like sails when trucks passed and the 13 inch tires really did not like potholes much. Still I would consider trying to live with one of them with the FE motor getting around 50MPG.
When I owned my Lancer Evolutions, I always hated people saying that. No, my engine isnt “high strung” Karen…. your crappy cast pistons and open deck block in your commuter car is “high strung”.
My engine with a fully forged and balanced rotating assembly with dual Speed Density/Mass Air Ecu control and quality metal intake wouldnt be “High strung” at over 4 times your leaky oil-burning lumps power output if it tried.
High strung means you dont want to buy one until an American company makes one with similar output then you will buy that and get a head gasket recall and consider them bad designs….
For comparison Sake. I have a 485 HP v8 that is considered high strung by some measure of the term, but since it needs very little RPM to almost idle at 75 MPH.
I have driven a few of the old 2000’s rally inspired cars, SRT4, SS Cobalt, Lancer evo, WRX. they are legitimately tons more fun than the base model daily driver cars they are based on. But I also recall the turbo lag back then, and the higher RPM’s to keep them at 75 required. Those motors were essentially built with higher end stuff to make the HP, but the more work being done to make the HP often degenerated things faster it seemed, so using the same basic engines for the daily cars in larger taller heavier cars seems like it would just be a recipe for disaster. The Whole Ecoboost 4 cylinders popping head gaskets and sucking coolant like it was gatorade int he 2 or 3 cylinder is a perfect example
I’ll buy a 3 when the cars are downsized to suit.
One for each head?
Nice!
Yeah, this, engines keep getting smaller, but cars keep getting bigger and fatter, they need to come back to some sort of equilibrium
Yup, one must go with the other or engine life spans will suffer for it, as much as a lot of people don’t want to believe it. Will the smaller engine still be enough for the average slow and roughly sympathetic driver to make it through an expected lifespan? Possibly, but for something that is expected to run under a higher load state for a good percentage of time, it’s very likely to be a problem. Also, with the first example of the slow driver, maintenance tends to be something that is overlooked and an engine that runs a lot of power per displacement and per cylinder is going to be a lot less forgiving of such things, so it could also be a problem even for the boring driver.
Why have pistons at all? It’s time, for years they’ve waited in wait till technology could catch up. We can do this, with the combined effort of all the nations. The rotary must return!
I’ve owned 4,5,6, and 8 cylinder cars, so sure I’d drive a 3 cylinder, but would want something fun like Corolla GR, or the Euro spec Fiesta ST. Also I guess I need to have a 10 and 12 cylinder car at some point… Time to check out today’s Shitbox Showdown again.
All this talk of 3s, and yet I have to be the one to link to Schoolhouse Rock?
De La Soul too!
Koenigsegg Gemera has a 3 cylinder, so yes I would buy one. But realistically a GR Corolla would be fun and that engine has been proven to be strong.
Sure, why not. I have a PWC with 300HP coming from a 3cyl motor. Why not in a car too?
Longevity
In boating applications 3 cylinders last just as long (if not longer) then 4 cyl. Why would we expect anything different in cars?
Must have a different experience than mine with boat motors.
3 cylinder Mercs have been around forever. They’re like the standard for outboards. Going back like 40 years. they are actually more reliable then the 4 cylinder ones.
Also, most higher power PWCS and jet boats are 3 cylinders. Except for the crazy high HP ones they all last as long as any 4cylinder engines I know of (which is actually very few in boating)/
Have you had bad experiences with 3 cyl. boat motors but good one with 4 cylinders?
yeah, in outboard form, I have seemingly had better luck with a V-4 configuration over the 3 cylinders. I do note that most Jetski’s(PWC have 3 cylinders in my experience and they seem to do ok. I did have an old mercury inline 4 that seemed to chug along pretty well, but I don’t think any of them really seem to last as long as say an automobile engine. the long storage times and high RPM shots across the water when they are in use seem to make all boat engine life span short I suppose.
those v4s usually start around 100hp. Maybe that’s a tough spot for the 3s. Seriously though. My GTXLimited has a 300hp supercharged I-3. And I just heard they are coming out with a 325hp version of it.
I don’t have alot of experience with outboard over 100HP. It’s usually outboard under 100 and then inboard v6 and 8.
I think you are right about short lives in boats. The water is hard on everything. 200 – 300 hours is considered high for a boat engine and entering overhaul or serious maintenance territory. That running time is the equivalent of like 12,000 miles on a car. So, maybe me suggesting boat engines proved anything is not a great comparison.
GM is putting 4 cylinder engines in full size pickups now. The turbo 2.7 puts out v8 power, but weighs less so you’re seeing 2200+ lb cargo capacity on 1500’s.
I would gladly buy a 3 cylinder car, just not any one sold new in the US now or in the future.
I want a diesel with mechanical fuel injection, in a car with no power steering. The chances of a vehicle like that being sold in the US now or in the future is less than 1% and even that’s optimistic.
“Would you buy a three-cylinder …”
MV Agusta F3. Fuck yes I would.
Oh, you said “car”.
Never mind.
I drove a friend’s Justy a few times decades back. I had a few sub $300 Subarus by then, and still was taken aback by how bad the NVH was. It only had 60ish K on the clock, but still was way worse than my 200K ish rusted-out GLs & wagons.
I would buy one of today’s 3 poppers. Hell, the Fiesta ST was on my list of want-to-try cars for quite awhile. But, now that I’ve experienced the joy of torque from an NA straight 6, I’m unlikely to halve the cylinders anytime soon-turbo notwithstanding. I’ve got plenty enough to kill me—and a supercharger is only like $5k if I get a serious death wish.
Mini Coopers (non-S) have been 3 cyl since about 2016…..making 139hp out of 1.5 L
I think the reason there are more 4 cyl engined cars being sold in the US is that there are more cars and trucks that come with one (Or only come with one).
Yep. Not certain when they put that engine in the Mini, but it’s been around since 2013. We just picked up a 2016 base Cooper, and those three turbocharged cylinders are plenty for a car that size. And returns mid-30s MPG at over 70 MPH on the highway.
My only real experience with modern 3 cylinders has been the Ford Ecoboost, and after seeing a few of them in our scrap dumpster, I’m not the biggest fan.
I worry about longevity, as it seems like they seem to be engineered to make tons of power and provide incredible efficiency (and that they do!) but the prospect of me buying one with over 150,000 miles on it is not really likely. I’m aware they don’t engineer them to be driven forever, but there are legions of toyota and honda faithful that became this way by driving one with 300,000 miles at some point and being impressed.
I dont think the future is bright for any 3 cylinder, turbocharged, direct injected engine that is tasked with putting out 180 hp/liter and moving a 3500 lb mini suv around.
I saw discounts of about $10,000 on select Grand Cherokees and Gladiators dry up over a two day period, transitioning in September into October. Once the strike was affirmed, they pulled all incentives and have list prices back at MSRP+. Whatever instances there are of incentives remaining, our local dealer didn’t get the memo. I wasn’t terribly surprised to see it.
I just pulled the trigger on a strip down gladiator sport, I ended up at 40,000 out the door on a 45k sticker truck thanks to the rebates. I hope they stick around, but if they dissapear, I’ll be breathing a sigh of relief.
Sometime around 1992 I bought a 1986 Chevy Sprint Plus for $250. Drove it for a year, then sold it for $200. It was a fun car in its own way.
There’s a certain sense of freedom that comes with driving a car you don’t give two shits about. I had a beater like that once. I did crazy stuff in that car that I wouldn’t dare do in a car that was actually worth money.
I mean, I don’t think anyone on this site would kick a GR Corolla out of their garage and it has a turbo 3 cylinder. The fanboys claim that it sounds amazing but I don’t really agree. But then again I daily a Hyundai N product and most enthusiasts think they sound like ass so I can’t really talk.
I wouldn’t go out of my way for a 3 popper but I wouldn’t necessarily avoid them either. They’re not particularly prominent in performance applications outside of rallying, so as of now they’re more or less reserved for econoboxes. I think the BMW i8 has one as well but that car mainly existed to be a mule/showcase for BMW’s EV technology.
Honestly we’re probably not far from peak 3 cylinder. Just about everything is moving towards electrification so I don’t think too many manufacturers are going to invest heavily in new ICE powertrains. I think they’ll stick around as base engines for economy cars for a little while and might find their way into some hybrids…but turbo 4 cylinder technology is so proven and effective at this point that I think it’s what we’re going to stick with until the death of ICE as we know it.
I know a lot of the no replacement for displacement crowd bemoans turbo anything and thinks 4 poppers are sacrilege but I genuinely don’t think they’re much riskier than an NA engine at this point. We’ve been turbo-ing them for decades. The technology is well sorted.
Honestly if I was shopping for a car right now I think electrification would be a must for me at this point. My Kona N’s gas mileage is abysmal (20.3 lifetime, fucking yikes) and with the wife and I trying to have kids I’m operating from an understanding that the Kona might be my last small, fun car for a while. If I had to replace it today I’d probably get a luxury hybrid of some sort or try out a full BEV….not necessarily because I think the technology is ready yet, but the lease deals on them are nucking futs.
Hideous grille or not, I could be in an i4 xdrive for the same price monthly ($600) as my Kona N….and that’s before fuel savings come into play. There are some crazy leases on PHEVs too. Either option would make for a way comfier, less wasteful commute and who cares if the technology will be outdated in 3 years if you’re giving it back anyway?
My Mini has a 3. My Kubota diesel had a 3.
With some exhaust modifications it would sound like a tractor.
I’m OK with that. Brings happy feelings.
You’re talking to the guy with a car that literally farts. You’re among friends 🙂
Memory unlocked: we had a Kubota diesel lawn tractor for our 2 acre yard (plow attached for winter driveway duty) and I used to wheel that thing around the yard regularly while the parents were still at work until my dad caught me one afternoon and said “enough of that”. He ended up matching my savings at the time so I could get an ATV :). That tractor was still going strong after 30 years.
Mine was a mid 80’s G-series.
Sipped fuel and ran best at full throttle.
Gave it away to a friend’s Grandson to use or sell with 2,500 hours on it.
Pardon me. I need to go cut the muffler off my Mini.
Yeah I’ll buy a 3 cylinder if I can find a not marked up GR Corolla. Most of the people buying these crossovers with 3s in them probably have no idea what’s under the hood anyway though.
Sure, why not? If it’s as capable as I need/want, reasonably efficient, reliable, and the value is there, I’m not going to complain about that. But it’s hard to argue with the more established four-cylinder engines.
Bring back the Chevy Metro.
Suzuki just released a new Swift, so that can be the new Metro
People can’t afford new cars anymore, stuck buying used.
Also, those modern 3-cylinders are turbos, which are more complicated and require premium fuel.
Came across a Metro (convertible even!) in traffic over the weekend. They seemed small back in the day, but are positively tiny now.
I’d love to see how GM would appropriately size it up for a contemporary audience…maybe about as a big as a Mini Countryman?
They have the spark, it is effectively GM’s modern Metro, and nobody is buying them either.
the Spark was killed off last year 🙁
i don’t know about 3-cylinder engines. they seem high-strung and nervous, kind of like a chihuahua. now, there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with that dog breed but i prefer a larger, slightly calmer power plant.
“Would you buy a three-cylinder car? Have you?!?”
I have, twice, both of them 1967 SAAB 96 sedans. I drove the remaining one to work this morning. With any luck I’ll drive it home again tonight, too.
And when your Shrike shrieks, then burns up the #2 piston, hopefully you put a spare engine in the trunk, so you can engine swap roadside, just like Bob Sinclair did back in the day.
In my experience carrying one spare in the trunk is easy:
https://live.staticflickr.com/8434/7504752768_c75413ff59_c.jpg
Two takes a bit more planning:
https://live.staticflickr.com/5491/12736315873_c33dfcd56a_c.jpg
But, as it turns out, passenger footwell space is overrated anyway:
https://live.staticflickr.com/8006/7504751586_e6a5725fa9_c.jpg
Awesome! I needed this…it was seriously the highlight of my day…Thank you!
Here in the UK the Dacia Jogger only comes with a one litre three-banger. It also has a six-speed manual and seats seven. Bit different from the one litre Peugeot 205 I started out with in the 90s.