The inline five-cylinder engine was first invented by Ford. In the 1970s, the concept of energy conservation and emission reduction was proposed, and some automobile companies wanted to build engines with better performance than 4 cylinders and lower fuel consumption than 6 cylinders. It was in this context that the five-cylinder engine came out. When the working stroke engine is started, only through the four cycles of intake, compression, work, and exhaust can an ignition be completed. Each time it is ignited, the cylinder rotates the crankshaft 2 times, or 720 degrees. Commonly known as piston reciprocating motion. The cylinder of the three-cylinder engine needs to rotate the crankshaft by 240 degrees (720/3) each ignition, but the downward work of the cylinder only rotates the crankshaft by 180 degrees, so the three-cylinder engine works once per cylinder, for 60 degrees In this 60-degree rotation, the engine does not work. This is also the biggest reason why the three-cylinder machine cannot achieve vibration balance.
The four-cylinder engine rotates the crankshaft by 180 degrees (720/4) in each stroke of the ignition operation, so that the two cylinders move downwards at the same time, and the other two cylinders move upwards at the same time, which can counteract the mutual vibrations of the cylinders. Alternative five-cylinder engines Five-cylinder engines allow for overlapping of work between cylinders. In the 720 degrees of crankshaft rotation that completes a single job, the work per cylinder only needs to rotate the crankshaft by 144 degrees (720/5). Since it is below 180 degrees, before the previous cylinder leaves work, the other cylinder begins to relay in advance, resulting in a stronger power output and a better power feeling. Due to the method of this work, the torque of the five-cylinder engine at low speeds is very bad. Some turbocharged engines can reach the maximum torque point at 1500 rpm, while five-cylinder engines require more than 2500 rpm. The unique way of working and the difference in low-speed torque also make the fuel consumption of the five-cylinder engine very high.
The Audi five-cylinder engine Mercedes-Benz began using a five-cylinder diesel engine for the first time in a production car, and in 1976 Audi also used an inline 5-cylinder engine for the first time in the second-generation Audi 100 model, with a maximum horsepower of 100Ps. Later, in order to participate in the rally, a 2.1T five-cylinder engine was built. At that time, the Audi S1 car had a horsepower of 598Ps and 2.3 seconds of 100 km/h acceleration, and with Audi's unique Quattro four-wheel drive, it won almost all the rally championships at that time. In 1994, Audi released the RS2, the first generation of the RS series of performance cars. The car was built by Porsche and Audi, so the exterior has a lot of similarities to the Porsche 911. Audi's five-cylinder engine was also officially reduced to civilian vehicles by Larry.
But for the next 15 years, Audi seemed to forget about the five-cylinder engine, just like other car companies. Five-cylinder engines have not been new in 15 years. By 2009, Audi was once again launching a 5-cylinder engine code-named EA855 and launched the compact sports car TT RS, powered by a 2.5-liter turbo direct injection 5-cylinder engine. In 2011, Audi transplanted the engine to the RS3 and made a significant performance improvement. With a maximum horsepower of 360Ps and a maximum torque of 465 Nm, the car that bought vegetables from this A3 platform was also revived. In 2015, the RS Q3 debuted, also powered by an in-line 5-cylinder engine, and the horsepower rose to 367Ps. In 2016, Audi released the new TT RS, the 5-cylinder engine horsepower was further increased to 400Ps, and the 100-kilometer acceleration took only 3.7 seconds to finish. It is also a five-cylinder engine that has become a classic of the Audi RS series.
Five-cylinder engine stalls When Audi is expected to launch a five-cylinder engine with 500 Ps horsepower, all three of Audi's five-cylinder performance cars are discontinued. The biggest reason is that the fuel consumption is too high. Previously, measuring a car's oil was time-consuming, using the NEDC cycle, but most of it was isofactor conditions. Since then, a stricter WLTP loop has been adopted. Known as WLTC in China, it participates in fuel consumption tests in various situations such as idle, acceleration, and deceleration. The Audi five-cylinder engine was difficult to pass this test and had to choose to discontinue production. The latest RS3 European version, fuel consumption has dropped significantly, but still can not meet the domestic fuel consumption standards. Audi has also been unable to find a 5-cylinder RS model on the domestic official website, and the once strongest grocery shopping car may never come back.