Engine Types

The most common engines explained.

1. Inline-four engine (Straight 4)
The inline-four engine or straight-four engine is an internal combustion engine with all four cylinders mounted in a straight line, or plane along the crankcase. The single bank of cylinders may be oriented in either a vertical or an inclined plane with all the pistons driving a common crankshaft. Where it is inclined, it is sometimes called a slant-four. In a specification chart or when an abbreviation is used, an inline-four engine is listed either as I4 or L4 (for longitudinal, to avoid confusion between the digit 1 and the letter I). The inline-four layout is in perfect primary balance and confers a degree of mechanical simplicity which makes it popular for economy cars. However, despite its simplicity, it suffers from a secondary imbalance which causes minor vibrations in smaller engines. These vibrations become worse as engine size and power increase, so the more powerful engines used in larger cars generally are more complex designs with more than four cylinders.

You can find this engine on most cars.

2. Inline-three engine (Straight 3)
A straight-three engine, also known as inline-three engine, or a triple, (abbreviated I3 or R3) is a reciprocating piston internal combustion engine with three cylinders arranged in a straight line or plane, side by side.

You can find this type of engine in the Volkswagen Group cars: VW Polo and Fox, Seat Ibiza, Skoda Fabia, Audi A2.  The engines in these cars ranges from 1.2 litre petrol with four valves per cylinder that deliver 47 to 65 kilowatts (64 to 88 PS; 63 to 87 bhp), to 1.4 TDI diesels that deliver 51 to 66 kilowatts (69 to 90 PS; 68 to 89 bhp) and have turbos with variable vane geometry and deliver outstanding economy, this particular engine is used in small cars of all marques of the Volkswagen Group.

3. V6 Engine

A V6 engine is a V engine with six cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of three cylinders, usually set at either a right angle or an acute angle to each other, with all six pistons driving a common crankshaft. It is the second most common engine configuration in modern cars after the I4.

The V6 is one of the most compact engine configurations, shorter than the straight 4 and in many designs narrower than the V8 engine, and is well suited to the popular transverse engine front-wheel drive layout. It is becoming more common as the space allowed for engines in modern cars is reduced at the same time as power requirements increase, and has largely replaced the inline-6, which is too long to fit in many modern engine compartments.

4. V8 Engine

A V8 engine is a V engine with eight cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of four cylinders, in most cases set at a right angle to each other but sometimes at a narrower angle, with all eight pistons driving a common crankshaft.
In its simplest form, it is basically two straight-4 engines sharing a common crankshaft. However, this simple configuration, with a single-plane crankshaft, has the same secondary dynamic imbalance problems as two straight-4s, resulting in vibrations in large engine displacements.  As a result, since the 1920s most V8s have used the somewhat more complex crossplane crankshaft with heavy counterweights to eliminate the vibrations. This results in an engine which is smoother than a V6, while being considerably less expensive than a V12 engine.

The traditional 90° big-bore V8 engine is generally too wide and too long to fit easily in vehicles with a transverse engine front-wheel drive layout, so its applications are limited to rear-wheel drive muscle cars, pony cars, sports cars, luxury cars, pickup trucks, and SUVs.

Some example of V8 engines:

• BMW S65 4.0 V8 engine
• Mercedes Benz 6.3L AMG engine
• Ferrari 4.3 V8 engine
• Nissan VK50VE engine. V8 5,0
• Volvo (Yamaha) V8 engine for Volvo XC90. V8 4,4L
• BentleyV8 engine
• Shelby Mustang GT350 V8 engine

5. V10 Engine

A V10 engine is a V engine with 10 cylinders in two banks of five with a distinct exhaust note. The V10 is essentially the result of mating two even-firing straight-5 engines together. The straight-5 engine shows first and second order rocking motion. Here it should be assumed that the crankshaft with low second-order vibration is used and the first order is balanced by a balance shaft. By mating the straight-5 banks at 90 degrees and using five throws the balance shafts balance each other and become null. The firing sequence is odd (BMW M5, Dodge Viper). Using an 18° split journal crankshaft the firing order can be made even, and the two balanced shaft do not balance each other completely, but are combined into a single very small balance shaft (Lamborghini Gallardo, Ford 6.8 V10). Using a five-hrow crankshaft and 72° bank angle the firing order can be made even, and the two balanced shafts do not balance each other completely, but are combined into a single small balance shaft (Lexus LFA). A 36° degree bank angle and a 108° flying arm crankshaft would allow even firing without a balance shaft and smaller counterweights, but would be impractical.
The V10 configuration is not an inherently balanced design like a straight-6, V12, flat-6, straight-8, or a cross-plane V-8 (ignoring the counterweights) and does still have a small second order rocking motion, which can only be compensated by two additional balance shafts.

This engine can be found on the following cars: 

• Audi S6, RS6, S8, R8
• BMW M5, M6
• Dodge Viper, Ram 2500/3500 Heavy Duty, Ram SRT-10
• Ford F-250/350, Ford Excursion
• Lexus LFA
• Lamborghini Gallardo
• Porsche Carrera GT
• VW Touareg and Phaeton (both TDI )
• Wiesmann MF GT5

6. V12 Engine

A V12 engine is a V engine with 12 cylinders mounted on the crankcase in two banks of six cylinders, usually but not always at a 60° angle to each other, with all 12 pistons driving a common crankshaft.
Since each cylinder bank is essentially a straight-6, this configuration has perfect primary and secondary balance no matter which V angle is used and therefore needs no balance shafts. A V12 with two banks of six cylinders angled at 60° or 180° from each other has even firing with power pulses delivered twice as often per revolution as a straight-6. This allows for great refinement in a luxury car. In a racing car, the rotating parts can be made much lighter and thus more responsive, since there is no need to use counterweights on the crankshaft as is needed in a 90° V8 and less need for the inertial mass in a flywheel to smooth out the power delivery. In a large displacement, heavy-duty engine, a V12 can run slower than smaller engines, prolonging engine life.

You can find this engine on this cars:

• Aston Martin: DB7 Vantage, Vanquish, DB9, DBS, V12 Vantage
• Audi Q7 (TDI version)
• BMW: 750i/750iL/760i; 850i/Ci/CSi
• Ferrari: F50, 550 Maranello & Barchetta Pininfarina, 575M, Enzo, 612 Scaglietti, 599 GTB Fiorano/GTO, FF
• Jaguar E-Type V12, XJ-S
• Lamborghini: Miura, Countach, Diablo, Murcielago, Reventon, Aventador
• Lincon: Continental, Zephyr
• Maserati MC12
• Maybach 57 and 62
• McLaren F1
• Mercedes-Benz: CL600/CL63 AMG (W215 only)/CL65 AMG; S600/S63 AMG/S65 AMG; SL600/SL65 AMG, SL70 AMG, SL73 AMG
• Pagani: Zonda, Huarya
• Rolls-Royce: Phantom, Phantom Drophead Coupe, Ghost

7. W8 Engine

A W8 engine is an eight cylinder piston internal combustion engine in a W configuration, or two imaginary 15 degree V4 engine blocks, mounted juxtaposed at 72 degrees to one another and coupled to one crankshaft.
The W8 can be imagined as flat plane crank V8 engine made with VR4s instead of inline fours. Nearly-square external dimensions mean the large eight cylinder engine will fit in the space typically alloted for a V6 engine. The Volkswagen Group W8 engine was installed longitudinally in the Volkswagen Passat (B5.5) from September 2001 to September 2004, but sales were minimal at only 10,000 units worldwide per year. The Passat W8 was positioned asVolkswagen Passenger Cars' "premium" car, before the Volkswagen Phaeton was introduced.
The 4.0 litre - 3,998 cubic centimetres (244.0 cu in) W8 engine produced 202 kw (275 PS; 271 bhp) at 6,000 rpm and 370 newton metres (273 ft·lbf) of torque at 2,750 rpm, yet was considered a fuel-efficient eight cylinder engine due to the design. It also had a two stage resonance induction system to boost cylinder filling across the engine speed range. It had two simplex roller chain-driven (relay method, using three chains) double overhead camshaft(two overhead camshafts per cylinder bank, hence "quad cam"), and twin balance shafts to smooth out residual vibrations inherent in the layout. One additional advantage was that the W8 shared some components and machining with narrow-angle VR5 and VR6 engines, leading to cost reduction in one of the most expensive engines Volkswagen Passenger Cars has ever produced.

8. W12 Engine

A W12 engine is a twelve cylinder piston internal combustion engine in a W configuration. W12 engines are manufactured in two distinct configurations. One configuration uses four rows of three cylinders merged into two 'cylinder banks' (two narrow-angle VR6 engine blocks), coupled to a common crankshaft - as in Volkswagen Group W12. The other uses three banks of four cylinders coupled to a common crankshaft as in the Napier Lion
The advantage of the W12 engine is its compact packaging, allowing Audi to build a 12-cylinder sedan with all-wheel drive, whereas a conventional V12 engine could only have a rear-wheel drive configuration as it would have no space in the engine bay for a differential and other components required to power the front wheels. In fact, the 6.0L W12 in the Audi A8 W12 is actually a bit smaller by overall dimensions than the 4.2L V8 that powers the Audi A8 4.2 variants.

The 2011 Audi A8 debuted a revised 6.3 liter version of the W12 (WR12) engine with 500 PS.

The Volkswagen Group W12 engine is used in some high-end luxury models:

• Audi A8 W12
• Bentley Continental GT and Flying Spur
• Spyker C12 and D12
• VW Phaeton W12, Touareg W12

9. W16 Engine

The Volkswagen Group W16 engine as configured for the Bugatti Veyron EB16.4 is a 16 cylinder quad-turbocharged engine with four valves per cylinder. The engine is 71 centimetres (28 in) long, and weighs approximately 400 kilograms (882 lb). Maximum power output is 736 kilowatts (1,001 PS; 987 bhp) at 6,000 revolutions per minute (rpm), with a maximum torque of 1,250 newton metres (922 ft·lbf) (127.5 kgf·m) from 2,200 to 5,500 rpm. Some automotive press outlets have also reported that the W16 engine has been considered for use in other Volkswagen Group products - specifically a Bentley.