What are the benefits of having more displacement vs more cylinders and the configuration of the cylinders.
For example:
3 litre inline 4 cylinder vs 3 litre inline 6 cylinder vs 3 litre V6.
In: 0
For a given displacement, the more cylinders you have, the smaller each cylinder is. That results in smaller explosions that come more frequently than an engine with the same displacement but fewer cylinders. This will be observed by the driver as smoother power and torque delivery.
More displacement means more fuel and air in the cylinder, and therefore more power and torque at the expense of fuel consumption since this means that the pistons, connecting rods, and crank shaft are all larger and heavier.
V configurations offer the most compact packaging for a given displacement. This is why high-performance cars typically have V8, V10 or V12 engines. H configurations (Subaru, VW, and Porsche engines) make the engine very wide but can sit very low in the engine bay. An H configuration does not specifically impact engine performance, but does affect handling since the weight of the engine is so low in the car. I configurations make for the most difficult packaging for a given displacement. However, they also inherently produce the best torque. For this reason, they are very common in large trucks where there is plenty of space for a very long, very tall engine.
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