What is the difference between a three cylinder car and a four cylinder car?

We all know that engines have different cylinder counts, and the common ones are, the main difference between the structure of three cylinders and four cylinders is one less cylinder. As for the number of cylinders and displacement, the larger the displacement, the more cylinders, the greater the power. Why do we say relative?

In fact, with the application of different means or technologies, many small-displacement engines can now have higher power than large-displacement engines, such as turbocharging technology, direct injection, valve timing and other technologies to improve combustion efficiency, thereby increasing the power of the engine. With the power parameters of the following engines for example, Buick Ford BMW is a three-cylinder engine, and the rest is a four-cylinder engine, it can be seen that most of the current three-cylinder turbocharged engines have far exceeded the four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine.

Buick power. 120kw/5500rpm

Torque. 230nm 1600-5200rpm Ford.

Power. 92kw/6000rpm

Torque. 170nm 1500-4500rpm BMW.

Power. 100kw/4400rpm

Torque. 220nm 1250-4300rpm Volkswagen.

Power. 85kw/6000rpm

Torque. 150nm/4000rpm

Toyota power. kw6000rpm

Torque. 154nm/5200rpm

Secondly, in terms of working principle, due to the characteristics of the four-stroke engine, the four-cylinder engine runs relatively smoothly, and the three-cylinder engine cannot cancel each other out of vibration when the three cylinders are running, so the shaking is indeed more obvious than the four-cylinder in general. However, the three-cylinder engine is light in weight and small in size, so lower fuel consumption is an advantage that it cannot ignore, and it is precisely because of this advantage that the three-cylinder engine has re-entered our field of vision, after all, the current trend is to minimize emissions and fuel consumption. As for the disadvantages of obvious jitter and noise compared to the four-cylinder, in fact, now all of them have come up with good solutions.

BMW has deployed three-cylinder engine models in its 1 Series, 3 Series, and X1 series, and Buick Yinglang, Yuelang, and GL6 are also three-cylinder engine models, which have been accepted by many consumers and have gained a good reputation. On the one hand, thanks to the use of vibration-damping components such as the balance shaft, the three-cylinder engine can reduce vibration at the source; On the other hand, as with the NVH optimization of the four-cylinder engine, the comfort quality of the car is improved by blocking the transmission of engine vibrations into the vehicle.

Three-cylinder turbocharged engines are simple to manufacture, smaller in size and lighter in weight than four-cylinder engines. But compared to the four-cylinder engine, it will still be a little worse.

First of all, the biggest difference is the number of cylinders, the three-cylinder engine is one less cylinder than the four-cylinder engine, so the control of the engine operation balance is worse than the four-cylinder, to put it bluntly, the vibration is greater than that of the four-cylinder engine when running. For example, if you use a wooden stick to lift a bucket of water, is it symmetrical for three people (1+2) or for four people (2+2)?

The second is that the three-cylinder engine has one less cylinder than the four-cylinder engine, so the fuel consumption will definitely be reduced, and the maintenance is relatively simple, because the three-cylinder engine is smaller, so the weight of the car will also be reduced.

What is the difference between a three-cylinder and a four-cylinder engine? Is it really fuel-efficient? Why did the car company secretly change back to the four-cylinder.

Difference 1, fuel consumption.

The three-cylinder engine is excellent in terms of fuel consumption control due to its structural advantages. Engine downsizing makes it smaller, more power dense, and more thermally efficient. The three-cylinder engine will have lower pump gas losses due to structural reasons, and because the cylinder block is smaller, the friction loss during operation will also be smaller, and the corresponding heat dissipation loss will also be reduced.

2. Strong power.

In the displacement range, because the number of cylinders is less than that of a four-cylinder engine, the single-cylinder volume of a three-cylinder engine with the same displacement is larger, and the power is better at low speeds; The number of cylinders is small, the mechanical friction is small, and the increase in the number of cylinders will reduce the efficiency of a single cylinder. The three-cylinder engine has a faster power response and stronger power performance than the four-cylinder engine.

3. Turbo hysteresis.

A three-cylinder engine has less exhaust interference than a four-cylinder engine, and with the small inertia turbo technology, a three-cylinder engine will have better low-rev torque and less turbo lag than a four-cylinder engine.

4. Volumetric weight.

The small size and light weight of the three-cylinder engine can reduce the overall weight of the vehicle, and the smaller size will also save space in the engine compartment and provide space for electrified components. The four-cylinder is large.

5. Suitable for car models.

The three-cylinder is suitable for hybrid models, on the one hand, the hybrid system is larger, and the compact volume of the three-cylinder engine is more suitable for the hybrid system; On the other hand, a three-cylinder engine is more efficient.

At the mechanical level, the difference between a 3-cylinder car and a 4-cylinder car is mainly in the number of cylinders, because the three-cylinder engine has one less cylinder than the four-cylinder engine, so the size of the engine will be smaller. Since there is one less cylinder, the power will definitely be much worse, but this is not the case, because the three-cylinder engine will be turbocharged, and the three-cylinder engine is mostly used in low-end models, so the paper parameters of some three-cylinder engines will not be much different from the self-priming four-cylinder engine of low-end cars at the same time.

Guangqi Honda Lingpai can be taken as an example, Lingpai abandoned the original four-cylinder naturally aspirated engine when it was updated in 2019, and instead adopted a three-cylinder supercharged engine, with a displacement reduced by nearly half, while the original engine with a maximum power of 100kW, a maximum horsepower of 136 horsepower, and a maximum torque of 169Nm was adopted; The current engine has a maximum power of 90kW, a maximum horsepower of 122 hp, and a maximum torque of 173Nm.

Therefore, if it is also a low-end family car, the difference between three cylinders and four cylinders in addition to the number of cylinders and displacement, whether there is a turbocharger can also be counted as one of the differences.

On the other hand, the three-cylinder engine is often used to say that it shakes very much. This is because the crank linkage of the engine exerts very complex variable forces on the crankshaft when it is running, which causes the engine to shake, which has nothing to do with how many cylinders the engine has.

However, because the 1-cylinder and 4-cylinder, 2-cylinder and 3-cylinder inline four-cylinder are the same as above, this kind of jitter is suppressed to a certain extent, but there will still be it, so the four-cylinder engine of Mercedes-Benz will also be added to the balance shaft. The three pistons of the three-cylinder engine cannot be the same as above, so the jitter cannot be suppressed, and the balance shaft can only be directly added, so whether it has a balance shaft can also be counted as the difference between the three cylinders and the four cylinders.

In addition to the difference in mechanics, the treatment of three-cylinder engines and four-cylinder engines is also different in terms of policy, which will be more obvious in Lingpai. As we all know, the vehicle and vessel tax is levied according to the displacement, but it is a standard threshold. The old version of the Ling faction has to pay more money according to higher standards, while the new Ling faction can pay less money according to the lower standards, which is the difference in policy treatment between the three-cylinder engine and the four-cylinder engine.

Since there is a problem with a three-cylinder engine, can a three-cylinder engine be bought? At present, many cars with three-cylinder engines do not necessarily have the jitter problem that everyone is worried about, so this aspect will not be an important factor affecting the purchase of three-cylinder engines.

As mentioned earlier, the power of the three-cylinder engine will not be much worse than that of the four-cylinder engine, but in fact, in actual driving, you can realize that the power performance of the three-cylinder engine will not be too good, and the acceleration in the first section may be good, but in the middle and rear sections, most of the three-cylinder engines will show a weak state. Therefore, the three-cylinder engine car is more suitable for walking in the city, and the fuel consumption is low and does not need too high power, and if you often run at high speeds, then the three-cylinder engine may not be suitable.

The stability of the three-cylinder is worse than that of the four-cylinder, in terms of manufacturing cost, the same power output, the cost of the three-cylinder is lower than that of the four-cylinder, the maintenance cost is also low, and the fuel consumption of the four-cylinder is higher than that of the three-cylinder.

1. The number of cylinders commonly used in automobile engines is cylinders. Engines with a displacement of less than 1 liter are commonly used in three cylinders, 1 liter is generally a four-cylinder engine, engines of about 3 liters are generally 6 cylinders, about 4 liters are 8 cylinders, and 12-cylinder engines are used for liters and above.

2. Generally speaking, under the same cylinder diameter, the more cylinders, the larger the displacement, and the higher the power; Under the same displacement, the more cylinders, the smaller the bore, and the speed can be increased, so as to obtain greater lifting power.

3. The more cylinders, the more stable the engine will be. There are too many differences between 3-cylinder and 4-cylinder, in short, with the increase in the dynamic requirements of automobiles, it will generally develop in the direction of multi-cylinder engines.

4. The difference in performance is mainly in power and fuel consumption. Just like lifting a sedan chair, 3 people and 4 people must carry it, and 4 people must lift it easily and steadily. The car has good power like a 4-cylinder, fast acceleration and stable body. But fuel consumption will also be a little higher.

It is an indisputable fact that a three-cylinder engine is not as powerful as a four-cylinder engine. The inherent inadequacy of the cylinders causes the engine to not be able to do work. Although turbocharging technology is often used, the noise generated by power demand is often greater than the strength of the engine, which is not conducive to the accumulation of market reputation.

As for the kinetic energy of the brakes, it cannot be discounted at all, so the power given to the engine when braking will be reduced. At high speeds, we will find that the four-cylinder engine and the engine overtake very quickly, and there is a noticeable push back feeling in the early acceleration.

The biggest difference is the number of cylinders. A three-cylinder engine has one less cylinder than a four-cylinder engine, so the control of the engine balance is worse than that of a four-cylinder. To put it bluntly, the vibration is greater than that of a four-cylinder engine.

For example, it's like lifting a bucket of water with a stick. It's three people (1 2). The three-cylinder engine has a small displacement, low fuel consumption and significant fuel economy.

However, a four-cylinder engine will end up with one more cylinder, which will more or less increase fuel consumption. Compared to the four-cylinder engine, the exhaust interference and turbo lag of the three-cylinder engine have been greatly improved, so its low-speed low torque and starting acceleration response are better. Therefore, for everyone's daily commuter Yunmin, the speed will not be too high, the traffic jam is serious, and the stop-and-go will be stopped.

If you don't have too high a requirement for power, a three-cylinder engine is also a good choice. In terms of power, the start-up and low-speed performance may be better, and the medium-to-high-speed performance may be slightly lacking. On this issue, it cannot be too absolute, and the official data of many cars is not low.

It is recommended that you take it for yourself and try again from idle to high-speed, and it feels okay.

The balance of the crankshaft is not the same, the three-cylinder engine uses a three-turn crankshaft, which cannot achieve dynamic balance, and the four-cylinder engine uses a four-turn plane crankshaft, which can achieve a dynamic balance state.

Four-cylinder engines are more self-priming, while most of today's three-cylinder engines will be turbocharged, the reason is, of course, to fill the defect of small displacement and weak power of three-cylinder engines.

In addition to the number of cylinders and the amount of displacement, the difference between three cylinders and four cylinders can also be counted as one of the differences.

In addition to the difference in the mechanical level, the treatment of the three-cylinder engine and the four-cylinder engine on the political group is also different. Four-cylinder engines are more self-priming, while most of today's three-cylinder engines will be turbocharged, the reason is, of course, to fill the defect of small displacement and weak power of three-cylinder engines.

The difference between three cylinders and four cylinders is like orange, in addition to the number of cylinders and displacement, whether there is a turbocharger can also be counted as one of the differences.

The main differences between three-cylinder cars and four-cylinder cars are that four-cylinder cars have good stability, good purchase, and different volumes.

1. The stability of a four-cylinder car is better than that of a three-cylinder car

This is because the force and reaction generated by the four-cylinder vehicle can cancel each other out, thereby reducing engine shake. The three-cylinder engine is not working at first because of one less cylinder when we use it, so the jitter will be more noticeable.

2. There are also big differences in policy purchases:

The tax paid for the purchase of a car is charged according to the displacement of the engine, which is the limit of the charge, and the above has to pay a lot of taxes, and the four-cylinder transmitter pays more tax on the vehicle and vessel than the three-cylinder engine, mainly because of the low displacement of the three-cylinder.

3. Different volumes:

The three-cylinder engine is smaller than the four-cylinder engine, which can be said to be very advantageous for reducing the weight of the car itself, of course, it does not mean that the body will be light and fuel-efficient, relatively speaking, although the four-cylinder engine is heavy, but the fuel rate is higher than that of the three-cylinder engine.

The main difference between a three-cylinder car and a four-cylinder car is that one engine is a three-cylinder one, and the other engine is a four-cylinder one, and the same model, the engine is different.

The four-cylinder engine is the one we use the most. The four-cylinder engine is judged separately to offset the force of the engine's work (the cancellation of action and reaction force), and greatly reduces the engine shake.

The three-cylinder engine can not do the four-cylinder engine to offset the force of the engine (missing a cylinder, the force is unbalanced and wide), so the three-cylinder engine generally shakes more severely, but the engine fuel consumption is small, from the BMW X1 with a three-cylinder engine, to last year Buick Yinglang also changed the three-cylinder engine. Then the domestic brand Geely also uses a three-cylinder engine. Three-cylinder engines may be a trend in the future.