What is the difference performance-wise between a 4-cylinder and a 6-cylinder car?

the 6 cylinder ones use more gas. they get up to speed quicker, but in traffic no one would know if you had one. The difference is marginal anyway. I have a 6 cylinder taurus, and a 4 cylinder Plymouth. The Taurus gets about 18mpg in town, while the 4 cylinder Plymouth gets about 24 in town.

I had a 4 cylinder DIESEL Peugeot that got 40mpg IN TOWN because it was DIESEL!!! It also was stupidly fast too!

Gas cars have more maintenance issues, all the electronic computer stuff sometimes gets a bad signal from the engine that you have a code reader to read the code, and turn off the code light and all the little persnikety stuff that goes on.

diesel cars get 30% more mpg, because of the better efficientcy of diesel engines. America just doesn`t know it yet because our gas is cheap compared to the rest of the world.
Diesels also last twice as long as gas engines do…Oh, AND no tune-ups with a Diesel, ONLY oil and filter changes, because there is NONE of the electronic spark plug stuff in a diesel engine!

Hybrids save a lot of gas but the battery pack needs replacing every 3 years at $3000, which negates ANY gas savings , and who wants to buy a used hybrid that needs new batteries?!?!?

So read this…Note what they call the engine “TDi”. all the models with the “TDi” engine get about the same 40-50mpg!!
http://www.transmitmedia.com/golfTDI/

oh, want to see how long they last? this guy IS STILL going, after half a million miles!!
http://www.autoblog.com/2007/08/23/vw-finds-highest-mileage-diesel-in-ohio/

The 4cl. usually uses less gas. Sometimes, it’s very little less. Almost not worth the sacrifce in performance.

In general, the engine with the smaller displacement will get the better gas mileage, given the same body type and style. As far as driving goes, the 6 will give a smoother ride than the 4 because of the power pulses. In 4 cycle engines, as found in most cars, the 4 has 2 pulses per crankshaft revolution, the 6 has 3. The more cylinders, the smoother the power pulses coming from the engine at slower speeds, which smooths out the delivery of the power to the wheels. Likewise, an automatic instead of stick shift will help smooth out the pulses at slower speeds because of the fluid coupling in the automatic.

You can get more HP per Liter with a 4cyl. engine than a 6cyl., but you do get more touqe with a 6 cyl. engine. Becauce 6 cyl is bigger it is more heavy, make the car un-balance., unless you get a Mid engine car.

Generaly speaking the smaller the engine the less gas it can burn. It’s not the number of cylinders, it’s the total displacement of the engine x how fast it turns per second that determins how much fuel you can burn in a given minute. A large 4cylinder may use more fuel than a smaller V6, but not give you as much punch off the line. In an equal size the V6 will use more fuel because it’s able to spin a little faster than it’s bigger pistoned cousin, thereby making more horse power. Also important, is whether or not you’re getting Tuned Port, or Throttle Body Injection. Tuned Port is more performance oriented, while the TBI system is more miserly at the pumps