Eli5 why do 4 cylinder engines still take up so much room?

Question

I’ve worked on several cars with 4 cylinder engines that were offered with a 6 cylinder engine, and same for 6 and 8 cylinder variants. I don’t understand why the engine bay is so crowded when there is a smaller engine in the vehicle.

Just for an example off the top of my head, the 2016 Dodge Durango, I’m familiar with the V6

In: 0

Answer 1

Four cylinder engines are about the same length as a V-8 and longer than a V-6. Double overhead cams and crossflow manifolds add a lot of width to the engine, so there’s not a lot of apparent difference in size.