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3 cylinder engine has so many advantages ovat 4 four cylinder, that I see the 3 cylinder population growing in the near future. I would like to add short block to Eckys list. Short block and crank shaf are inherently stiff which allows low weight. Short block leaves also more space for automatic transmission. Also electric motor in hybrid applications needs some space. Transverse layout doesn't have too much space available.
That Top Speed mag article is mostly about diesel engines. Small diesel engines inherently produce a lot of NOx-emissions, which is a huge problem in modern post Dieselgate world.
Ford's 3 cylinder has been around a long time. The engine seems to be quite sensitive to load. In some tests it has very low consumption, but sometimes the consumption is not impressive at all. It seems that consumption raises a lot when the load is raised. Lately one Finnish magazine tested Ford Ecosport. In low speeds consumption was low, but at high speeds the consumtion was much more than what one would expect. VW's much younger 3 cylinder seems to be much better. Lately Ford introduced the new updated version of the engine. Let's see how much they have improved things. At least cylinder deactivation sounds exciting in a 3 cylinder engine.
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