Engines: The V-type Engines vs In-line Engines

The engine is always referred to as the heart of a vehicle. It is connoted with the term heart because it is the most important part of a vehicle. An engine is a machine which converts energy to mechanical motion. It is the engine that converts the flow of a fluid into mechanical energy. 

Most of the modern cars today are incorporated with an internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine ignites a fuel along with an oxidizer in a combustion chamber. The high temperature and pressure produced by the combustion process directly applies force to the movable part of the engine which could be the piston or the turbine blades to generate mechanical energy or to enable the vehicle to move.

Types

Straight/In-land Engines

Boxer/Flat Engines

V-type Engines

Wankel/ Rotary Engines

Diesel Engines

In-line Engines

In-line engines have the cylinders arranged, one after the other, in a straight line. Almost all four cylinder engines are A straight/Inline engine is considerably easier to build than an otherwise equivalent Boxer or V type engines because the cylinder bank and crankshaft can be milled from a single metal casting and it requires fewer cylinder heads and camshafts.  

This ultimately means lower production and maintenance costs. Also due to their smaller and more lightweight construction, this is the preferred Engine design for FF cars (Front Wheel Drive). The design can be extremely fuel efficient compared to V type, Boxer and Rotary engine designs.

There are some five and six cylinder Straight/ Inline design engines, which are mainly found in European cars from the likes of Audi and BMW for example. 

Reasonable performance can be achieved with performance levels in the 0'9 Ford Focus RS around 300 BHP. This is mostly due to Turbo Charging and boost pressure used, but it is common for a 2.0 Litre 16 Value inline 4 to produce 200 BHP plus.

The engines are not generally thought to be as smooth as the V type and Boxer engine designs and the structure has it's limitations in terms of durability and strength. Inline engines can sometimes be a little rough in lower revs, but work well for smaller cars and do respond well to Tuning. 

V-type Engine

The V-type of engine has two rows of cylinders set normally at a ninety degree angle to each other. Advantages include it's short length, great rigidity of the block, its heavy crankshaft, and attractive low profile. This is a tried and tested engine design with huge performance potential.

In sports applications, having the engine as low to the floor as possible increases the car's handling characteristics, as it will naturally have a lower centre of gravity. Also having a strong engine with built in rigidity can mean the difference in endurance races, making the V type engine design an ideal choice for Motorsport applications. With this type of engine it is possible to have a very high compression ratios, without block distortion under load. 

This makes it a strong and robust design for high performance applications and is used in F1 for instance. Also with it's resistance to torsional vibration, the engine characteristics produce a smooth and refined engine. 

Another attribute for this compact engine design is a shorter car length without losing passenger room. In 1914, Cadillac was the first company in the United States to use a V-8 engine in its cars. From there America has fallen in love with the V type engine and the 50's and 60's produced some of the best Muscle cars.