Ford again showed why it’s the most forward-thinking US automaker with the unveiling of a three-cylinder EcoBoost – turbocharged – engine and the announcement that 90% of its cars sold in the United States in 2013 will have the EcoBoost technology. It will likely first appear in Ford’s smallest US car, the Fiesta (pictured), probably in 2012. Ford claims a turbocharged engine can take the place of the next size up in a normally aspirated engine (no turbocharger or supercharger). This means a three-cylinder replaces the Fiesta’s four cylinder, the EcoBoost four replaces a V6 in a Ford Taurus, and the EcoBoost V6 in a Ford pickup replaces a V8. They deliver the same performance as the next bigger engine with 20%-30% better gas mileage — and Ford already has four- and six-cylinder EcoBoost engines ready to roll.
If the three-cylinder meets equals the performance of the current 1.6-liter normally aspirated four-cylinder engine, it would deliver at least 120 hp and get 40 mpg-plus on the highway – 50 MPG might be possible. More details are due at the Frankfurt Auto Show in September. Meanwhile, crows Joe Bakaj, Ford VP of powertrain engineering, “No one has ever built a three-cylinder engine quite like this. It’s one of the most technically advanced and efficient engines we’ve ever designed.” No one other than, say, Fiat, which did the same thing with two turbochargers, a sophisticated valve timing system, and a two-cylinder engine. The Fiat Air engine is already out in the Fiat 500 (the cute rounded thing smaller than a Mini Cooper) and it’s the reigning World Engine of the Year. The Fiat Air engine delivers 85 hp from 1.4 liters.
The impetus for smaller engines comes from ever-tougher US fuel economy and emissions standards. Most of the time, car engines loaf along on a fraction of its performance potential. On the highway at steady speed, even a big car could get along on two, three, or four cylinders. Turbocharging uses exhaust gas to spin an impeller that forces more fresh air, and thus more fuel, into the engine when you tromp the gas pedal. There’s a slight pause (turbo lag) and then you’re off like a rocket. A generation ago, the heat and pressure made some turbo engines brittle and short-lived. Now, more heat-resistant metals and ceramics coupled with precise engine management makes turbocharged engines just about as reliable as normally aspirated engines. And if automakers opt to design the car only for smaller engines, as Hyundai did with its Sonata (four cylinders for economy, four-cylinder turbo for performance), they can make the structural elements even lighter without sacrificing safety.
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