DID YOU KNOW:
...That little engines are performing like big engines and making better gas mileage and lower emissions while doing it? How in the world did this happen? They like to call them “breakthroughs,” but the truth is it's the combination of mixing a lot of little things, some of which have been around a long time. To see 2.3 liter four-cylinder engines making the kind of horsepower we’d come to expect from 5.7-liter engines and yet getting twice and even three times the gas mileage while reducing tailpipe emissions by 75% does cause one to pause.
We say the biggest gain came when gasoline intake engines starting talking to diesel intake engineers. Sounds silly, but the gas guys learned a great deal from the diesel guys on how to more efficiently mix air and fuel. Diesel fuel being much thicker required designers to pressurize the fuel/air charge to a much greater extent; it helps better even the mix headed in the combustion chamber. This promoted a much more efficient burn and power stroke from the combustion mix. That then lowered the tailpipe emissions because the fuel was more thoroughly consumed or burnt.
Add to this constant efforts in friction reduction, better lubricants and better control of the engine’s running temp...and you’ve a good start. Of course the capper is 8 and 10 speed transmissions keeping the engine in its near perfect RPM range.
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