Random Thought 7 Engines

Engines confuse me. Not mechanically speaking. I understand all that garbage. It’s what manufacturers do with their engines that confuses me. For instance, Chrysler has a 3.6 Liter Pentastar V6 that has been a very solid engine that can be found in almost every single vehicle that Chrysler rolls out it’s even in the Ram trucks.

Next year a 3.2 V6 will be put into the Jeep Cherokee and I’m having a really hard time figuring out why. I don’t think the engine will overpower the chassis. They put the 3.6 in everything from midsized cars to minivans. Maybe they just want to change things up. That would be weird considering the engine has only been around for three years, but who am I to judge.

My point of this whole thing is that manufacturers get so caught up in making niche engines, or trying to beat out competitors for five horsepower, even ten. Some manufacturers are caught up in enough to completely redesign or scrap an engine to get there. Yeah, sometimes engines do definitly need to be scrapped or redesigned. Like Ford's 6.0L Powerstroke. Bless it's little head gasket blowing heart. If I built engines, which I don't, it’d go about like this.

Ten engine options.

Three naturally aspirated gas, three turbocharged gas, and four turbodiesels.

I’d stick with the same few displacements, say 1.5L I4, 3.5L V6, and 5.5 V8 for a LONG time. The blocks will stay the same. If I want to redesign a better cylinder head or fuel injection system every four years or so, okay. But most of the internals are going to same. Retooling and retraining takes time and money. Time and money that is usually wasted.

I really wish manufacturers would start cranking out diesel cars as well. They get SUCH good mileage, and they only cost a few thousand more. They more than make up for it in maintenance intervals, longevity, and at the pump.

Anywho... there's my random thought on engines.