Interesting article. Unbiased, but basically write up the I6
http://www.examiner.com/article/inline- ... es-of-both
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Nowadays, car companies are ditching V8’s altogether and going for a 6 cylinder setup, adding turbochargers to compensate for the loss in displacement. The choice of going with an inline 6 setup or a V6 configuration has both its advantages and disadvantages. For example, the Nissan GT-R is powered by a twin turbocharged 3.8 L V6. In previous generations, the Nissan GT-R used to be powered by an inline 6 setup. BMW is notorious for using an inline 6 to power there fastest M line coupes. Let’s take a closer look at what each brings to the table.

For a V6 engine, there is an odd number of cylinders in each bank so by its inherit design, it is unbalanced. The V6 is one of the most compact engine designs, shorter than an inline 4 and narrower in some instances than a V8. You can think of a V6 as combining (2) inline 3 cylinders to make a complete unit. Engineers vary the angle between the banks and crankshaft to effectively eliminate vibration at 90 degrees or have a natural even firing order at 60 degrees. Due to its compact design , the engine is very short and suitable for alot of front wheel drive cars especially when demands for power increase but engine bay sizes decrease. Take a look at the 2013 Honda Accord for example Consequently, the V6 is also very wide and it’s application in rear wheel drive configurations is few, since the space between the ends of the engine width are so big. Reference the Nissan 370Z and Ford Mustang.

An inline 6 on the other hand is naturally balanced, only needing proper tuning and the correct firing order to maintain it. And because of its straightforward design, the inline 6 is cheaper to manufacture design. Applications of an inline 6 in front wheel drive applications are none if any since being 6 cylinders wide can pose a problem for engine fitment. But for rear wheel drive applications, an inline 6 cylinder will work just fine. In addition, inline 6 cylinders produce more torque than V6 configurations and thus see it’s application in trucks and off road vehicles.

Both have it’s advantages and disadvantages, but in the end it depends on the application.

Last edited by drewh on Sat Apr 06, 2013 10:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

.....and, just the for the heck of saying, Holden/commodore fans should remember the first mass marketed v8 were in Fords...

Yes but Chevy had a 288 ci v8 back in 1917. The Chevy Series D, 288 cubic inches, overhead valves, crossflow heads.Chevrolet was absorbed by General Motors that year, and the Series D was dropped when The General's marketers decided to make Chevrolet its low-priced marque. They could have been the first, maybe the first major f**k up by GM...... A long line of f**k ups now

I actually did a job for a bloke a while back who use to collect and rebuild old cars. He had a 1930's Chevy pick up v8. I think that was a 37 or 38.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but Cadillac was selling V8's in 1916.....

bring back the straight 8..

Just due to their setup a straight 6 will ahve more torque then a V6.
Exactly the same in 8 cylinders.

The guy that started Cadillac, also started Lincoln.......Clara Ford, Henry Ford's wife, pushed him to buy Lincoln, so that Ford would have Luxo car to market.....prior to this, they didn't have one.
Cadillac also had V16's....and they weren't xflow heads either....it was OHV, but, the exhaust and inlet were in the V.
As for front wheel drive inline 6's, there was the Austin Kimberly X6, and the Austin Tasman X6.
VW had a V6 that was only a 15* Vee, so it had 1 cylinder head.
As for V8's....CAT has a V8 called a 3508....60* V, and has offset crankpin journals, not like in a 90* V8, like a Chev, Ford or Mopar.

Here's a bit of interesting reading......
Henry Leland, a former manager of the Cadillac division of General Motors, and his son, Wilfred Leland, formed the Lincoln Motor Company in August, 1917.

Ford Motor Company purchased the Lincoln Motor Company in 1922, but Lincoln continued to operate as a somewhat separate company from Ford through early 1940. On April 30, 1940 the Lincoln Motor Company became the Lincoln Division of Ford Motor Company.

The purchase of Lincoln was a personal triumph for Henry Ford, who had been forced out of his second company (after Detroit Automobile Company) by a group of investors led by Leland.
Ford's company, renamed Cadillac in 1902 and purchased by rival General Motors in 1909, was Lincoln's chief competitor. Henry Ford had previously produced luxury vehicles under the Ford nameplate, called the Ford Model B in 1904, the Ford Model F in 1905, and the Ford Model K in 1906 but they weren't accepted by the automotive buying market. When Ford acquired Lincoln, it quickly became one of America's top selling luxury brands alongside Cadillac, Pierce-Arrow, Marmon, Peerless, Duesenberg, and Packard.

Holden (Daewoo) Epica also ran an inline 6 in FWD (legendary Holden engineering)

with its 2.5 ltr 115 kW 237 N·m i6..

Sorry to burst your bubble but it was actually 1914 from what I have just read lol.

"The V8 engine configuration became popular in France from 1904 onward, and was used in a number of aircraft engines introduced by Renault, and Buchet among others. Some of these engines found their way into automobiles in small quantities. In 1905, Darracq built a special car to beat the world speed record. They came up with two racing car engines built on a common crankcase and camshaft. The result was monstrous engine with a displacement of 1,551 cu in (25,416 cc), good for 200 bhp (150 kW). Victor Hemery fixed that record on 30 December 1905 with a speed of 109.65 mph (176.46 km/h). This car still exists.
Rolls-Royce built a 3,535 cc (216 cu in) V8 car from 1905 to 1906, but only 3 copies were made and Rolls-Royce reverted to a straight-6 design. De Dion-Bouton introduced a 7,773 cc (474 cu in) automobile V8 in 1910 and displayed it in New York in 1912. It was produced only in small quantities, but inspired a number of American manufacturers to follow suit.
One of the first production automobile V8s was introduced in the United States in 1914 by Cadillac, a division of General Motors which sold 13,000 of the 5,429 cc (331 cu in) L-head engines in its first year of production. Cadillac has been primarily a V8 company ever since. Oldsmobile, another division of General Motors, introduced its own 4 L (244 cu in) V8 engine in 1916. Chevrolet introduced a 288 cu in (4.7 L) V8 engine in 1917, but after merging with General Motors in 1918, discontinued the V8 to focus on economy engines because it was problematic and expensive."

What about flat 6's?

Chev had a flat 6....air cooled too....in a Corvair....and as most people know, Porsche has a flat 6.
The Tucker had a flat 6 too.
You could also get a Corvair with a turbo too.

In 1962 Chevrolet introduced the Corvairs with few changes at the beginning of the year. The bottom line 500 series station wagon was dropped and the 700 became the base station wagon. The "Lakewood" name was dropped. The ever popular Monza line then took on a wagon model to round out the top of the line. In Spring of 1962 Chevrolet really committed itself to the sporty image they had created for the Corvair by finally introducing a Convertible version and then offering a high performance 150 hp (112 kW; 152 PS) turbocharged "Spyder" option for Monza coupes and convertibles, making the Corvair the first production automobile to come with a turbocharger as a factory option

I love this old s**t. An impressive 112kw, 150kw out of a 1,551 cu. O'h how far we have come, but without these guys doing the hard yards who knows where we would be now.