Engine displacement? A new sales member ask me what is the difference between 2L-2.4L and what is displacement. Now this is fairly basic question but it occurred to me that it must be a very common for any one with no automotive back ground to wonder about it. We tend to get caught up with "NEW TECHNOLOGY" and skip past the basics when demonstrating a vehicle. So lets talk about displacement commonly the used unit of measurement in litre. Cubic inches traditionally used when talking about older vehicle classics or performance cars and can relate the engine block size. Now what does it measure for one complete engine cycle from top dead centre (TDC) to bottom dead centre (BDC) determined from the bore and stroke of an engine's cylinders. The bore is the diameter of the circular chambers cut into the cylinder block. So it is the volume of fuel and air that an engine can hold in the simplest terms. This relates to the marketing of vehicles tyring to gage the efficiency of the engine for exsample a 6.1 litre HEMI's is not known for fuel economy but power and the 1.0 litre, 3 cylinder SMART FORTWO (COUPE) on the other end is known for economy. There is always exceptions like the Chevrolet Cruze turbocharged 1.4 L offers power and reliability four-cylinder. The Cruze Eco version is rated at 138 horsepower, offering an impressive 148-ft torque posting an impressive 4.6L/100km highway fuel rating. Using new technology, 6 speed transmission, light weight materials and the turbo to raise power so the engine is not just set up for fuel economy but performance.
Imports tend to focus in on smaller displacement engines because in there home markets taxation is by classes of displacement, plus vehicle weight. In Canada we are tax based on vehicle value. With the development of easy to find on line information some clients are now noticing that many vehicle available in other markets are not headed for Canada or the USA. My thoughts are that due to the fact that fuel is taxed plus is a large part of the pump price the motivation for better fuel economy is not in the government focus with regulations. In Japan and the UK governments wanted to influence development of fuel efficient vehicle due in part to the energy crisis starting in the 1970's to reduce dependence on foreign fuel supplies and later to address Environmental Protection. Our domestic manufactures had to play catch up to the consumer demand in the 1980-90's for smaller vehicles but with globalization and market forces many domestic manufactures go beyond their import counter parts. It shows in the length of warranty now provided at GM 5 years or 160,000KM Power-train and lower fuel grades reg- no supreme needed on many models.
The lower the displacement the better the fuel economy works to a point other factors like vehicle dimensions, mass, technology incorporated in to the design and the intended vehicle use plays a bigger part as it relates to the true cost at the pump. If performance is your driving factor on owning a vehicle there is a balance and some of the best sports cars out there use smaller displacement engines.
