How little engines are taking over American cars in a big way

As big V8-powered cars like the Dodge Charger and Challenger approach the end of their lives as production cars, an altogether different sort of gasoline engine has become increasingly common on American roads: the three-cylinder.

As big V8-powered cars like the Dodge Charger and Challenger approach the end of their lives as production cars, an altogether different sort of gasoline engine has become increasingly common on American roads: the three-cylinder.

To many Americans — except ardent car geeks — the number of cylinders in an engine may be of little concern. But three is an odd number in more ways than one.

We're used to small engines having four cylinders, and the idea of an engine having only three can raise concerns about whether it provides adequate power or might be noisy and rough-running. If Americans have experience with three-cylinder engines, it would probably have been in Europe where the engines are fairly common in tiny "city cars" used for basic, around-town transportation.

Here in America, we mostly buy SUVs, and we demand the power to move our bulkier vehicles on wide open highways at high speeds.

Ten years ago, only one model widely sold in America had a three-cylinder engine and that was the Smart ForTwo, precisely that sort of tiny European car that looks like it wouldn't require much power at all to get going. Now, for the 2023 model year, there are ten different models available in the United States with three-cylinder engines, according to Edmunds.com.

And these are not tiny niche products.

There are three Minis (the Clubman plus the basic convertible and hardtop Mini models), the Mitsubishi Mirage, Ford Escape, Ford Bronco Sport, Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Encore GX, Nissan Rogue and the Toyota GR Corolla. All of these are at least offered with three-cylinder engines, if not available only with that engine.