The V8 is the single V configuration that makes sense, because of the symmetrical (square) firing order. You don’t need to add balance shafts and the overall engine configuration can be made surprisingly small. The only problem with a V8 is that they are tough to lubricate and cool, because of the monster surface area of even small-displacement V8s and the amount of metal in the block. I’d take a V8 over a V6 any day, as the V6 is just too many compromises in its design.

Europe (again) already has a solution to the too-long i6 problem; the inline-5. Volvo and VW have been making inline 5s for decades, and they are a really solid, well-tested and reliable design. Also, an inline-5 is actually smoother and has a flatter torque curve than either an inline 4 or an inline 6. Why? A 4-cylinder has a 720-degree cycle, in which the crankshaft rotates twice; it takes it a full two crankshaft revolutions to fire all four cylinders, and there is no overlap, so there are parts of the cycle in which no piston is firing and the engine just coasts on its own mass. An inline 5 has a shorter power stroke of 144 degrees, so there is a small amount of overlap between power strokes, and it fills in those power gaps. That’s why you get more torque, and fewer parts and less need for touchy variable-valving and other hand-holding. VTEC in an inline-four is actually an attempt to simulate overlap.

Which brings me back to my original argument, that the V6 is marketing. The I5 is a totally superior design; even US manufacturers have begun using them in trucks (the H3 had one, as did the Colorado). However, people react to them like this — “it has 5 cylinders??” and their primitive brains recoil in fear at the odd number.

V has been associated with power for good reason. Jaguar chose a V6 for the XJ220, and it was considered the fastest production car in the world for many years (bested by the McLaren F1). Many people swap out their I6 engines for a Chevy 350 or other V8s for the drag strip. Instead of 10’s, they want 6’s and 7’s. It’s not uncommon to see cars that used to have I6 engines now fitted with small block V8s in order to get more power out of them.

But, that’s not to say that I6s are not capable of tremendous power. I’ve seen Nissan Skylines with their 2.6L I6 engines pushing 1,300+ HP. That’s not bad considering how small the engine is. That would be like a Dodge Neon or PT Cruiser pushing out that much power. Different engine type, I know, but similar displacement. It’s just for comparison purposes.

However, I think the V6 is used in minivans for a couple of reasons. Marketing is one, but I have a bit of a problem with that argument. I honestly don’t believe the majority of car buyers even understand things like torque, horsepower, displacement and engine configuration. Most people don’t buy cars all the time, so they don’t study performance like we enthusiasts do. It would be like buying a computer or a dishwasher for many of us because some of us don’t look at gigahertz, RAM, or liters per minute. Many of us would probably look at the sales guy and say, “Um, is that good?” I feel that most car buyers are like that, and my experiences of watching car sales people interact with customers is that the car sales person can throw out all sorts of numbers and useless facts, and most customers just nod their head in bewildered agreement. But when it comes to horsepower, for the most part, only men care about that. But do men choose minivans? Not very often, quite honestly. I find that in most minivan purchases (including mine), men do the buying, but the women do the choosing. And most women (my wife was just like this) could care less about horsepower and torque. My wife asked me, “Why do I need 240 HP? It’s not like we’ll be going over 100 mph all the time.” She’s right. Horsepower isn’t important to most women because they don’t race around the street all the time. So, yeah, the V6 affects the marketing, but in vain.

I’m in television marketing, by the way. I do a lot of buyer research as part of my job.

The I4 is not commonly used in today’s minivans because of many other things, and sales is not one of them. Most minivans in the US these days weigh in excess of 4,000 lbs., and they seat 7 adults (adding another 1,050 lbs. assuming each adult weighs only 150 lbs.). A small 4 cylinder engine, even a turbo 4 cylinder engine, would not be able to pull such weight (5,000 lbs.) without putting an extreme strain on the engine. Because of this, the gas mileage of a 4 cylinder minivan will suffer, as will the reliability of the engine. Yeah, chances are you won’t get a minivan to go more than 250,000 miles before the customer trades it in, but a 4 cylinder may not even make it to 150,000 miles. Parts under high stress tend to wear out faster.

And if they were to make a more reliable 4 cylinder engine with very high quality parts, it would add to the already hefty price of the current minivans. Mine was just under $25,000, and I thought that was a lot. But I’ve seen minivans get up to $46,000 (ridiculous). People in that price range should be looking at something other than a minivan. Anything more expensive, and they most likely have no kids to feed (and therefore no use for a minivan).

As far as an I6, I think it would be great if they could put an I6 in a minivan. I’d be the first to get one. However, the I6 creates two problems:

1) I used to have a 280Z, which had a 2.8L I6. That engine was long. Sticking that in a minivan would mean that they would need to make the nose longer, thereby defeating the purpose of a minivan, which is to maximize front to rear cargo space by making the engine compartment as shallow as possible. My minivan is 17 feet long, and only 2.5 feet of that is the hood. Stick an I6 in there, and it might have to be 19 feet long to have the same cargo space. The thing barely fits in my garage as is. The only other way I could see to do it would be to mount the engine sideways. But I doubt that would fit right, because a sideways-mounted V8 is still only 4 cylinders long. Add two more cylinders to the end of that, and you have an I6. An I6 is simply a long engine. Basically, I think the manufacturers wanted to get 6 cylinders into the minivans, and the V6 was the most practical way to do it.

2) I6 engines are torquey. I know, I had one. The car would twist up and to the right when I’d take off, and that was a great feeling. Yeah, other cars can do that, too. But for such a small engine, it produced a lot of torque. Other I6 engines are known for torque, like the Cummins diesel that Rams use, and the Jeep I6 in the Wrangler. The Supra was torquey, too. However, all of those vehicles have one thing in common: They are not FWD. In FWD, if you have too much torque, you’ll go through CV joints like mad. I really think I6 engines are too torquey for FWD configurations. AWD and 4WD is a bit different, because a good portion of the torque is going to the rear wheels. But FWD is exclusively sending the power to the front wheels, which presents a reliability issue. And in a minivan, you don’t want many screaming soccer moms coming in to get CV joints fixed.

Let’s keep in mind, though, that each manufacturer has the best engineers they can afford working on their cars. They have many goals to accomplish, including making more efficient configurations, maximizing engine reliability and keeping the price point within certain limits. A lot of development goes in to making these cars, and that development includes experimentation and testing. I’m sure I6 engines for minivans were considered, and I’m sure they were ruled out for many reasons.

My wife has since discovered why 240 HP is a good thing to have in a minivan. And she’s discovered how quick our minivan can come to a complete stop, and she was impressed. Scared, but impressed. And happy…

In another article, there is talk of the Charger SE losing about 12 HP out of its already underpowered 190HP engine.

Get ready, grab your ankles because you are in for a swift kick in the ass.

This is about the last of the large American V-6’s!

beatus- What mini-van do you drive? I remember you mentioning a Nissan I believe…

Best looking mini-van out there, not that I’d call any of them good looking…