Would you rather have a 2.5 Four or Five Cylinder?
Asked by Mark Aug 14, 2015 at 11:37 PM about the 2010 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited
Question type: General
Both of these engines have the same exact displacement, so, which runs cooler and
more efficiently? It's a trade off between Four larger cylinders or Five smaller cylinders.
And, please comment on the issue of torque. I understand that VW is discontinuing the
five cylinder engine, why? http://m.caranddriver.com/features/the-future-dims-for-the-
five-cylinder-engine-feature
5 Answers
A five cylinder would not work in a Subaru as they are inline engines. Honda had a racing 5 that was a V engine though! Odd number of cylinder engines are rough and require balancing shafts to try and smooth out the inherent vibrations. Inline 6 and V12 engines are naturally balanced. Torque is largely a matter of the stroke length of the engine, not the number of cylinders.
Full_of_Regrets- yes, this article is interesting, see this link http://m.caranddriver.com/features/the-future-dims-for-the-five- cylinder-engine-feature
Yes, I understand that the inline Five wouldn't work in the Subaru. Has to do with the layout of the AWD system.
My original question was aimed at comparing the torque similarly sized engines with different numbers of cylinders. Thanks for your answer above, so, it's the length of the stroke per cylinder and not the number of cylinders? Also, what do you know about engines that are more square, as in larger bore vs longer strokes?.
I have a 2005 Subaru outback impreza sport do you have to change anything if your pulling a 2.5 to a 3.6 or would it be easier with a wrx 2.0 turbo engine
