Quote:
Originally Posted by elhigh
I know everyone will have already addressed the issues of thermal efficiency, friction etc. But there's a really simple one:
Cost. More cylinders means more tooling, more weight, more fasteners, more work to make the engine. If you're building an economy car, there's already next to no profit margin in it. If you can screw together the engine with fewer parts, less tooling, fewer workers, do that.
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Actually if they can shoehorn in an existing engine and transmission assembly available from another platform it will save them more money than trying to tool up for a basic engine build. Even if it costs a little bit more per unit to physically build it will cost a lot less if there is a larger run (quantity of engines built in a given period of time). Simply put in manufacturing more units = less cost per unit. Which is why you often find the same basic engine in several different vehicles. Sure marketing, decals and engine covers will vary but the heart is the same.