I guess what about having extra pistons makes mpg worse vs. 1.8L, 2.5L, 3.5L, etc.?
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Displacement is really the critical number when it comes to both power and efficiency. Going up always gets you more power and less efficiency, all else being equal.
The cylinder count and configuration doesn’t really matter that much for those things. It’s more about things like how to physically fit the cylinders into the available space, plus keeping the overall part count reasonable and the individual parts at the most practical sizes. Medium-count V engines like V6 and V8 tend to have roughly cubic overall shapes, which are generally pretty good for fitting into a car’s hood area.
Most car manufacturers traditionally made their highest power options as V6s and V8s, as that’s generally the best way to fit the maximum displacement under the hood. For lower power options, they preferred to cut the cylinder count instead of size, as it meant more shared parts and tools. So the I4 was a pretty good configuration for a lower-powered and more efficient engine option. In some cases, it might be basically a V8 with one bank chopped off. The shape isn’t the most space-efficient possible, but it still fits okay most of the time as long as the displacement stays in the same range.
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