Today's community question: what's the best four-cylinder engine of the last 20 years? Go!

22 Dec 2015

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

A853. 2.4L turbo. Hearty little bugger. Very versatile shortblock

Vaz ba3 or Volvo B230FT

Audi 1.9 TDI

The 2.0L DI LNF engine from GM that was put into the Cobalt SS Turbocharged.

Classic mini

Sure, there are highest revving engines and other four-bangers that make crazy loads of power (e.g. Mercedes-Benz CLA 45 motor). But what about a high-tech one? I’d say Mazda’s SKYACTIV-G 2.5L I-4 is the best revolution of 4-cylinder engines. Highest compression ratio of 14:1 (or 13:1 in North American markets) with combination of direct injection makes a wonderful engine to live with. 184 h.p. at 5,700rpm and 185 lb.-ft. at 3250rpm makes it really nice to live with. Torque comes in pretty early for a naturally-aspirated engine, and the horsepower is plentiful for it’s application in Mazda3, Mazda6, and Mazda CX-5.

General motors ecotec lineup. very very few 4 cylinder engines were as easy and cheap to make big power with. they were used in a good many vehicles for track and drag racing and still hold a good number of records. any of the issues with the engine from factory were EASILY remedied providing you didn’t wait until the problem areas actually failed. upgraded parts were, and still are inexpensive and make these engines very tough.