The three-cylinder engine has been controversial in China's automobile market, and even the infamous description is not excessive, and many consumers have been directly dissuaded after hearing that a model is equipped with a three-cylinder engine. However, as the country's restrictions on automobile emission standards become more and more stringent, many car companies will give the model a three-cylinder engine or develop a three-cylinder version, so can the three-cylinder machine be bought in the end?
Advantages and disadvantages of three-cylinder engines
First of all, the three-cylinder engine is smaller and the weight is lower than that of the four-cylinder engine due to the lack of a cylinder. For cars, weight drops will significantly reduce fuel consumption, coupled with the thermal efficiency of the engine, so in the case of the same displacement, the three-cylinder engine will theoretically be more fuel-efficient than the four-cylinder engine.
In addition, it is also due to the lack of a cylinder, valve, and piston for the three-cylinder engine, so the cost required by the manufacturer to manufacture the three-cylinder engine has also been reduced, and the price of the three-high model will be much less than that of the four-cylinder. Take Geely's Lynk & Co 02 as an example, the 1.5T version of Lynk & Co 02 is equipped with a three-cylinder engine, priced at only 122,000 yuan; the four-cylinder engine equipped with the 2.0T version of Lynk & Co 02 is priced at 172,000 yuan. The configuration of the two models is not much different, and the price of 50,000 yuan is mainly reflected in the gap between the three-cylinder engine and the four-cylinder engine.
Finally, the three-cylinder engine is missing a cylinder, so in the case of the same displacement, the single cylinder volume is larger and the power of the explosion is stronger. Because the larger single cylinder volume can lead to better low-speed torque and also makes the car lighter, the three-cylinder engine is more agile than the four-cylinder engine in the case of the same displacement.
However, compared to the advantages of these three-cylinder machines, its shortcomings are obviously more likely to be noticed by consumers, and the experience when using the car is also very obvious, such as the jitter and noise problems that the three-cylinder engine has been criticized. Unlike four-cylinder engines, the problem of noise and jitter has always been evident in three-cylinder engines because they cannot counteract vibrations by the mutual movement or tilt angle of the pistons. In fact, manufacturers are not unable to improve the experience of the three-cylinder machine through some technical means, but the cheap characteristics of the three-cylinder machine are doomed to the manufacturer will not spend too much effort on it, and there will be no manufacturers because of the use of three-cylinder engines to replace the four-cylinder engine and reduce the price of the model.
That means consumers are spending the same price and end up buying a model with more pronounced shaking and louder noise. Coupled with the low fuel consumption and strong power brought by the three-cylinder engine, in fact, the characteristics of the three-cylinder engine are only present in theory, and we can easily find that the models equipped with the three-cylinder engine and the four-cylinder engine on the market have no visible reduction in fuel consumption compared with the naked eye, and the power is not strong enough for the four-cylinder engine to match, which makes it difficult for many consumers to accept.
Editor's Note:
For a consumer who intends to buy a new car, if the three-cylinder machine is included in its own alternative range, it is necessary to first consider whether you can accept the problem that the longer the three-cylinder engine is driven, the more the jitter is, and if possible, you should also go to a friend who has a three-cylinder model for test drive, and actually feel the car experience brought by the three-cylinder machine. In addition, it is also necessary to consider the price of related models, if the three-cylinder version and the four-cylinder version of a car are not much different, it is still the safest choice of four cylinders.