Has there ever been a car you’ve been interested in, and as you dig into it you soon realize that the engine for the car just, you know, makes no sense? Like, sure, it works, in the sense that the lump of oily metal parts that smack around inside that crankcase get the car actually moving, but beyond that the engine just doesn’t seem to fit, technically or conceptually or performance-wise or whatever? Let’s talk about these cars.
There’s a lot of examples of these, when you really start thinking about them. For some cars, I think the choice of a wrong engine can be genuinely catastrophic, and, in one example I can think of, even destroyed that car and its whole company before any of the cars could even be sold.
I’m thinking of the Elio.
Remember the Elio? That little three-wheeled car that was supposed to be built in Shreveport, but the whole thing just turned into a huge mess, and maybe a scam? I think a lot of the issues with that company happened when they decided to re-engineer the old three-banger Geo Metro/Suzuki Swift engine. Why didn’t they just get a tiny three-cylinder from a supplier like Ford or GM or Mitsubishi? I have no idea. It was a terrible engine choice, and it was part of that whole disaster.
But maybe that’s not really right for this – that was more of a disaster. We’re talking more just mismatched.
How about the iconic Citroën DS?
The DS was a wildly advanced car when it came out in 1955, a genuine Gallic land-spaceship with advanced aerodynamics and design, a hydropneumatic self-leveling and adjustable suspension system, power steering, a semi-automatic transmission and so much more. It was a marvel. And yet, all of this advanced hardware was powered by the same 1911cc inline-four from the old Traction Avant, a car that came out in 1934.
It was supposed to have an air-cooled flat-six, like a Porsche 911 or a Chevy Corvair, but that never happened, so it got the hand-me-down engine from the old Traction. It was fine, but very much out of character with the advanced jet-age character of the DS.
There are plenty others: the DeLorean DMC-12 was similar to the DS in that it felt like a spaceship, but tucked in its rump wasn’t an engine that reflected the gull-winged, stainless steel character of the car, but a humble Peugeot-Renault-Volvo lump of a V6 that was dowdy and slow, more at home in rational Volvo sedans.
Our own S.W. Gossin suggests this mismatched pair:
Plymouth Prowler for mismatch. The V6 was the best they had at the time, and beat the V8 available, but didn’t really work in the marketplace with a percentage of the customer base.
The Prowler really did feel like a V8 car. I get it. Let’s hear what Mark Tucker thinks, why not?
For mismatched engines: the Mazda Rotary Pickup. Let’s put a high-revving, no-torque rotary engine – in a truck.
Okay, fair enough, but those rotary trucks were just so damn cool.
But more importantly, we want to know what you think! What car feels the most mismatched with its engine! Tell us all and then argue and agree with everyone else, as you see fit, and with glee! That’s what we do here, after all!
What Is The Worst Possible Getaway Car? Autopian Asks
What New Car Would You Buy With $15,000 Cash In 1985? Autopian Asks
What Are The Most Annoying Things That Can Happen When Wrenching On An Old Car?
The Mazda Parkway bus. A 24 passenger bus powered by a rotary engine, for an even more extreme mismatch than the REPU. To nobody’s surprise Mazda sold very few rotary powered busses and the majority of the ones sold had piston engines.
Early C1 Corvettes stymied more by the two speed power glide auto than the blue flame I6. You’re seriously trying to compete with Jaguar and the like with a 2 speed auto?
Listen, the DeLorean and DS may have had slow engines that were a little underwhelming compared to the rest of the car, but they were fine.
As far as a real mismatch goes, I submit literally every American V8 muscle car built before the Malise era. Shit brakes, downright dangerous suspension, interiors made of paper mache, bodies made of the thinnest, crappiest “steel” on the planet, and bonkers powerful engines. They were garbage right off the showroom floor, but *dangerous* garbage.
2nd Gen Cadillac Seville and the standard diesel engine.
What was supposed to be an elegant, smooth luxury car came with a smoking, clattering, underpowered diesel.
While we’re at it – the optional BMW diesel in the Lincoln Mark VII.
The detuned Eta engines in BMW 3 and 5 series of that same timeframe.
And also, the severely underpowered 3.8L in the Mercedes-Benz S Class and SL from 1981-1985
AMC’s I6 in the Pacer. The designers banked on sourcing a Wankel rotary, which never came to pass, then had to shoe-horn a six into it at the last minute.
Same for the Vega — a promised rotary and we know the rest of the Vega’s engine story. What isn’t talked about is the early Pinto engines were no bargain either.
Cadillac and the HT4100 V8. But especially in the big RWD Sedan and Coupe Deville. What a turd of an engine, even if it was reliable you have 130hp propelling a 4300lb sled.
GM management had an edict that “we will not sell a car with a gas guzzler tax” Really screwed over Cadillac at that time, the customer base would have gladly paid it to keep driving their big block V8 cars. Its a night/day difference between the 77-79 cars with the 425 V8 and the HT4100 ones in terms of power.
Also around that same time as Cadillac introduced the HT4100 Mercedes reintroduced their V8 to the US market after selling only diesels for a couple years. You paid the gas guzzler tax with the Benz but they were rocket ships for that era with 80 more hp than the Cadillac
In defense of the Prowler, the V8 made no sense for the project. The whole point of the Prowler was that It was an experiment in aluminum. All that hard work to make an aluminum chassis just to put a pig iron V8 in? No, the all aluminum V6 was a far better choice.
As far as my choice for most mismatched engine car combo. My vote is the 86 Taurus. Ford comes out with a brand new space age sedan and what’s powering it? An equally brand new stone age archaic V6. I could forgive an American company for still sticking with pushrods in the early ’80s, what I can’t forgive is the complete lack of aluminum heads and a half decent transmission. I understand the Vulcan is a tough as nails engine, but they are extremely underwhelming in every other aspect until you give it to Yamaha to make DOHC.
Can I complain in general about the rash of 1.5l turbos in full size cars? It’s one thing for GM to do it, but was recently in Germany and our euro spec decked out luxury passat wagon (with integrated seat massage!) had a 1.5T as well. It performed decently enough.. but 3cyl engines just don’t belong in a full size car!
Bmw i8 and Cadillac ELR, kind of responses to the Model S, but came just a little short.
The massive battery in the new Hummer. Kinda heavy for what’s designed for offroading.
The second gen Taurus SHO.
No one would expect that there’s a Yamaha V8 in there driving the front wheels.
Here with what I’m sure will be an unpopular opinion… the Skyactiv engine in the modern Miata. No complaints about performance, reliability, or anything that actually matters, but it just has such an annoying raspy buzzy mechanical sound at high rpm’s compared to their older 1.6 and 1.8’s.
Definitely not the worst out there, but the Karmann Ghia fits the bill, I think. It’s a nice looking little car, but it’s got VWs ubiquitous air-cooled engine in it, making at most ~50hp.
The Pontiac Fiero was definitely severely let down by its choice of engine.
I disagree on this one. Yes, the engine was strangled for US emissions with 1970s-era catalytic converters and tuning that strangled the engine, but don’t forget a turbo 2.5L version of the same engine powered the much-lauded Alpine GTA turbo, and LeMans-spec versions made well over 400hp.
The Delorean was a really European car that was horribly federalized. The chassis was designed by Lotus, having a lot in common with the Esprit. However, they found the headlights sat too low to meet US specifications (what is it with the US and dumb headlight regulations?). It was far too late to restyle the whole body, so instead they jacked up the car on taller springs, wiping out much of the Lotus benefit.
They had all kinds of crazy aspirations for the engine with a Wankel being one of the bigger ones, but the Euro-spec PRV engine isn’t terrible, it’s just awful with US federalization.
I plan to own a Delorean someday, and I’d resto-mod it back to much of the original design intent. It will never be a supercar, but it does untapped potential.
You know,the PRV engine in the Delorian was used in a lot of pretty neat cars and was raced at LeMans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V6_PRV_engine
Every now and again, while waiting to cross a main thoroughfare to get to work, I’m there in time to catch a guy who drives his DeLorean to work (I’ve seen him a couple of times).
It’s always striking how low and wide it is compared with everything around it, but my favorite part is the incongruous engine note coming out of it.
When I lived in Lexington there was someone who drove theirs on a regular basis and it really is striking in person.
Once I saw two Deloreans there in the same day, but in different places, so it wasn’t the same car.
Yeah, that engine could be made to be pretty good, actually.
The Pacifica PHEV V6 should’ve been a 4-cylinder, for example. Instead, the V6 PHEV gets worse mpg than a Sienna, which isn’t even a plugin.
Early midsize-to-large cars and crossover hybrids used a V6 when they should’ve used an I4, though that was eventually corrected later. The electric motor provides the instant torque, and the I4 has better mpg than a V6.
Outside of hybrids, a good example is the shitty 54-degree V6 in the Catera and other GM cars. The Catera should’ve gotten the 3800 (which was already offered in Australia, in both NA and supercharged forms)
The 90s and newer Panthers had a lazy V8 with V6 power. The standard engine should’ve been a V6 (they had a 3.0L with 220 hp at the time), and the V8 should’ve been the same version as the Mustang GT of the time (260 hp instead of 224). The Marauder engine should’ve been standard on the Town Car.
I was always a little surprised that Ford put a detuned 4.6 in the Crown Vic. If it had offered the Mustang version, then they really would be rear gear swap away from being the muscle-car-in-plus-size-clothes that some people now mistakenly think they are.
I think the CVPI guys sort of perpetuated that myth. It’s enough power for the vehicle, but should never be mistaken for a sports car. My 97 GM even has the “Handling and Performance Package”, which really helps tighten it up a bit while maintaining excellent and comfortable road manners.
Incorrect opinion on the panthers. That lazy bastard is happy to chug along for 80 billion miles. Torque is plenty to move it’s fat ass out of its own way, and it makes a nice quiet v8 noise which is essential for that class of vehicle. Would I take a more raucous version in my grand marquis? Of course! But I think it was the right choice to make.
Fully agree the 4 cam should have at least been optional on the GM, TC and Crown Vikkie
I’ll go the other way – the ’90s Dodge Spirit, in R/T guise that provided the 2.2 turbo engine.
A forgettable, dowdy-looking sedan with an absolute screamer of a motor. Amusement park ride quality torque steer just added to the unexpected drama of how fast they were.
I was going to bring this to the table. I believe they also made a Plymouth version (Sundance?) that looked like something my grandma would have drove.
Yes! Mismatched can be a good thing sometimes too. Similarly, the Trailblazer SS and Grand Cherokee SRT-8 are pretty traditional SUVs closing in on 5000lbs, very cynical mid-2000s domestic products, but completely improved by a snout fulla lusty V8.
Third Gen Camaro with the Iron Duke, Pontiac Fiero with the Iron Duke. Mazda REPU with the 13b Rotary.
I love them all though.
I would add the fox Mustang with the 2.3 lima
I had a friend in high school who had a short bed, square body Chevy pickup. It had a 454 in it, and if you breathed heavy on the throttle, the tires lit up and it started to slip sideways.
Because there was basically no weight in the back, you had to drive it ve-e-e-e-e-e-ry carefully, especially if the road was anything but absolutely clear and dry.
It could be a real giggle box, but it would also turn on you like a 930 Turbo.
My brother had a ’77 like that he ordered new. tons of illicit fun.
He eventually sold it when his insurance payments exceeded his loan payments.
Mazda Roadpacer AP. Because nearly nothing could be worse than a 2-rotor Wankel to propel 3400+ lbs of Aussie metal down the wangan-sen.
worse than that- there was a bus they made with that motor.