Fiat News: Rumorpile: FCA To Switch from V6 to Straight-Six Engine

[William Maley]

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is considering replacing the Pentastar V6 with a brand new straight-six engine. A source tells Allpar the new engine will be based on their new four-cylinder Global Medium Engine (GME) - what is found under the hood of the Jeep Wrangler and Alfa Romeo Giulia. This will allow FCA to build the engine alongside the four-cylinder variant.

Not many technical details are known about the engine aside from it being pegged around 2.9L to avoid taxes in certain European countries. We might expect larger displacements for trucks and SUVs. Production could take place at FCA's Dundee and Trenton, Michigan plants. It is expected that Ferrari will use a variant of this engine for Maserati vehicles. No timeframe as to when this new engine could debut.

Allpar also mentions in their report that FCA was considering adding some sort of boost to the Pentastar, but ran into issues with the size and power constraints.

Source: Allpar

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[G. David Felt]

running into issues with size and power constraints tells me that the V6 was already built at it's maximum potential. Sad failure to build an engine that way.

Seems the story at Auto Evolution states the following: Love it or hate it, the Pentastar V6 is getting on a bit. In addition to age, the six-cylinder suffers from cylinder head failure and overheating of the valve seats. The cam phasers, oil filters, and cap O-rings also leave much to be desired from a naturally aspirated engine.

 

[Drew Dowdell]

I approve!

[smk4565]

Sounds like FCA heard Mercedes was doing this, and said “well they know what they are doing, let’s do the same thing”

It does make total sense though, you don’t need more than 275 hp in a front wheel drive car, the chassis can’t really handle it, and you can get to 275 hp with a turbo 4 or hybrid, etc.  Over 300 hp is going to be a rear drive vehicle and the inline six makes the most sense for that.

[ccap41]

Sounds like FCA heard Mercedes which heard BMW. Jabroni.

It does make sense for all manufacturers to do this as I4's are super common so building an engine family off the most commonly produced engine makes sense.

Tell Honda that a FWD chassis can't handle more than 275hp. 

[Drew Dowdell]

1 hour ago, smk4565 said:

Sounds like FCA heard Mercedes was doing this, and said “well they know what they are doing, let’s do the same thing”

It does make total sense though, you don’t need more than 275 hp in a front wheel drive car, the chassis can’t really handle it, and you can get to 275 hp with a turbo 4 or hybrid, etc.  Over 300 hp is going to be a rear drive vehicle and the inline six makes the most sense for that.

BMW never stopped making I6es... so Mercedes is just following them.  

Regal, Lacrosse, XTS, XT5, Enclave, Acadia, Impala, Traverse, Fusion, Taurus, Flex, Edge, Explorer, MKX, MKZ, Continental, S90, XC90, CLA AMG45, RLX, MDX, Maxima..... off the top of my head... all have 300+ available horsepower in a FWD chassis..

[smk4565]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

BMW never stopped making I6es... so Mercedes is just following them.  

Regal, Lacrosse, XTS, XT5, Enclave, Acadia, Impala, Traverse, Fusion, Taurus, Flex, Edge, Explorer, MKX, MKZ, Continental, S90, XC90, CLA AMG45, RLX, MDX, Maxima..... off the top of my head... all have 300+ available horsepower in a FWD chassis..

Almost all those cars are lousy.  You can put 300 hp in a front drive suv because they are so heavy it will reduce some torque steer but most of those 300+ hp  vehicles are all wheel drive and the CLA is a 4 cylinder with more power than the V6s on that list so you don’t need a V6 for a front drive car.  

The other issue is that NA engines are becoming obsolete, everything is getting turbocharged and electrified to the point in the 2020s the vehicles with 6 cylinders will be large trucks and performance cars.  In addition I think turbo 3’s will become common place for small cars.

[Drew Dowdell]

None of those cars are lousy when they have 300+ hp.  Lousy are the ones with tiny displacement turbo 4s that get overworked trying to keep up. Yes, even my lil Encore is hindered by its power train.  I'll take a 300hp engine in it any day.

[regfootball]

 Whatever vehicles the v6 goes away, i sure hope the replacement is as good.

pentastar in our pacfica is so good, way better than the GMv6.

i would love someday to have a turbo six.

Edited September 19, 2018 by regfootball

[riviera74]

The I6 should make a comeback, and not just at FCA.  GM and Ford need to do the same.  Turbo 4cyl are overrated.

[smk4565]

3 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

None of those cars are lousy when they have 300+ hp.  Lousy are the ones with tiny displacement turbo 4s that get overworked trying to keep up. Yes, even my lil Encore is hindered by its power train.  I'll take a 300hp engine in it any day.

Because it is a weak turbo 4.  The Silverado even has a turbo 4 now, there is no need for a V6 in a family sedan, they just make the car front heavy and no faster than a good turbo 4.  And the CLA45 does 0-60 in 4.1 seconds of something in that range, that is faster than a V8 Lexus GS-F.  If GM put their engineering hats on they could turbo 4 stuff like the Lacrosse and Acadia, he’ll they have a non-turbo 4 in the Acadia now.  

A six cylinder in today’s world should be nearing the 400 hp level.

[ocnblu]

The venerable, revered Slant 6!

[Robert Hall]

Great to hear.  I miss the straight 6 that was a staple of Jeep for so long.  I have always thought of straight 6s when I think of Jeep engines. 

[ccap41]

11 hours ago, smk4565 said:

Because it is a weak turbo 4.  The Silverado even has a turbo 4 now, there is no need for a V6 in a family sedan, they just make the car front heavy and no faster than a good turbo 4.  And the CLA45 does 0-60 in 4.1 seconds of something in that range, that is faster than a V8 Lexus GS-F.  If GM put their engineering hats on they could turbo 4 stuff like the Lacrosse and Acadia, he’ll they have a non-turbo 4 in the Acadia now.  

A six cylinder in today’s world should be nearing the 400 hp level.

Doesn't Mercedes have 6cyl in most everything? Isn't the GLA and CLA the only two vehicles that don't have a V6 right now? 

[G. David Felt]

5 hours ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

Great to hear.  I miss the straight 6 that was a staple of Jeep for so long.  I have always thought of straight 6s when I think of Jeep engines. 

I loved and was not able to buy at the time the Jeep Eliminator Pickup truck with the HO straight 6.

[Guest thatjerryguy]

I had the Cherokee XJ with the 4.0L I6. it made an already good SUV even better.

[Robert Hall]

4 hours ago, ccap41 said:

 

2 hours ago, Guest thatjerryguy said:

I had the Cherokee XJ with the 4.0L I6. it made an already good SUV even better.

I put 170k on the 4.0 I6 in my Grand Cherokee WJ.  The engine was reliable overall, had oil leaks for years...

[G. David Felt]

2 minutes ago, Cubical-aka-Moltar said:

I put 170k on the 4.0 I6 in my Grand Cherokee WJ.  The engine was reliable overall, had oil leaks for years...

My daughters 1999 Durango with the 5.9 L V8 is awesome and runs so smoothly but after 323,000 miles even with changing them out the engine seems to leak oil since about 100,000 miles. Very weird, but leaks about 1/2 Quart between oil changes. So pan underneath and will just top it off till she decides what she wants to buy.

[Robert Hall]

After 17 years and 170k, my Jeep was tired...didn't want to spend any more on it..transmission was starting to slip, power windows and locks worked intermittently, air bag light came on on left turns..   desert life is hard on vehicles and people.   Didn't trust it on the 2000+ mile drive from Phoenix to Cleveland...the A/C wasn't very cold anymore either.  So glad to be done with the desert shithole..never want to be in Southwest ever again. 

Edited September 20, 2018 by Cubical-aka-Moltar

[smk4565]

8 hours ago, ccap41 said:

Doesn't Mercedes have 6cyl in most everything? Isn't the GLA and CLA the only two vehicles that don't have a V6 right now? 

GLA, CLA or any A-class/B-class is 4 cylinder only.  The Metris is 4-cylinder and any “300” model is 4-cylinder.

400/450 models are Six cylinder and 500s are V8s.