American vs. European Engine Questions

I'm not a mechanic or even mechanically inclined, so please forgive the novice nature of this question.I've noticed that American cars engines are larger than their European counterparts, but have lower HP. Smaller European engines rev higher and American ones seem to have more torque...so my question is, is the American design method done for the sake of reliabiliy

Tags: American, Engines, European, design, engine, questions

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Permalink Reply by William C on July 6, 2011 at 2:43pm

I think you have roughly the right idea. I believe the American car you are thinking of is the Pontiac 6.0L monster with less than 200hp or any of the engines available in cars like the Taurus, Escape, Malibu, and whatever Dodge is making these days.

I think they are designed to be under-tuned for a more reliable, less stressed motor, and more torquey so the power is available and usable when driving around in traffic.

The European cars your thinking are the imported, sportier, higher end variants that we get here. Not the normal people carriers they use over there. So the motor you might be thinking of is the BMW 3.0L used for years in many different models that produced 225hp. A full litre smaller than the Jeep motor and 25 more hp.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie on July 6, 2011 at 3:02pm

It seems that the American market gets "old" engines designs for longer. They are cheaper to make and can handle the lower octane fuel. VWs in the US start with the 2.0L I4, not the small efficient 1.2L TFSI. TDI engines weren't available at all for a long time while they make up about 80% of fleet cars in Europe.

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Permalink Reply by JelloShot on July 6, 2011 at 3:05pm

THERE'S NO REPLACEMENT FOR DISPLACEMENT!!!

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Permalink Reply by Jimmy on July 6, 2011 at 3:20pm

A large reason for much of this is cylinder head design. A lot of American V8s were or are still single cam push rod engines. Push rod engines make a lot less power from the factory, but can be pushed to large power numbers with modification. Dodge's 5.7 Hemi is a push rod, and so is GM's LS1 and LS2, plus others. Ford made 315HP out of the 4.6L (SOHC) in its final year, whereas the 5.7 Hemi made something similar to that at the same time. 1.1L difference. The big thing there is torque. Push rod engines are cheap to build, rev low, and make literally oodles of torque. Ford's new 5.0 V8 is now a DOHC engine, and makes a nice 412HP, while still making good torque. We as Americans love the instant, throw you back in the seat feeling of Torque, so that's how a lot of engines are designed.

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Permalink Reply by Jim on July 6, 2011 at 3:35pm

In the American market, bigger is better. Even with all the economic and environmental incentives for efficiency, a lot of us still think "More liters is more better!". A large segment of the population wants the biggest engine they can afford in the biggest car they can afford. American car makers are left with a demand that no other country is interested in filling, so they fill it as they always have. As a nice bonus, big inefficient engines are easier to design and build than small efficient ones. American makers would be stupid to change.

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Permalink Reply by Sasha on July 8, 2011 at 1:26pm

Yeee-up.

Works on bikes too. Harley is 50% larger in cubic inches, but 50% LESS in HP than a BMW bike. But it is loaded with low end torque.

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Permalink Reply by Jaylen B. on July 8, 2011 at 4:57pm

A Harley has enough torque to rip a house off of it's foundation, but most people that aren't racing the bike never go far enough to figure out how to make that much power actually hook up to the rear wheel.