V8 – An engine with 8 cylinders, arranged in 2 banks of 4, forming a V shape.

V8′s are famed for the prodigious power output, and delicious exhaust note.  ( Ok, ok, I’m a V8 junkie, no question about it. ) V8′s are most often found in trucks and muscle / sports cars.  V8′s are not at all known for their fuel economy, except for the fact that they enjoy fuel, and lots of it.  Note:  Chevrolet has performed some sort of black magic or Voodoo on the V8 powered Corvette, to allow it to get absurd gas mileage ( EPA ratings of 26+ on the highway ).  The Corvette is the exception, not the rule.

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V6 – An engine with 6 cylinders, arranged in 2 banks of 3, forming a V shape.

The V6 engine is right up there with the I4 in terms of popularity.  Everything from the Nissan Altima to the Lexus IS250 use a V6 engine.  Hugely popular, and offers the best of both worlds, with regards to fuel economy and performance.

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I8 – Inline 8 cylinder engine: An engine with 8 cylinders, arranged in a single row.  No automaker currently uses this design due to packaging issues.  To fit an I-8 under the hood, a car needs a simply massive hood, and the V8 is a much more compact, smarter choice.  I8′s haven’t been seen in production for many years, and won’t likely make a return.

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I6 – Inline 6 cylinder engine: An engine with 6 cylinders, arranged in a single row.  Automakers are starting to move away from the I6 in favor of the V6, which is a more popular design currently.  The now-retired Toyota Supra made good use of the I6 engine.  Currently BMW is the king of the I6.

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I4 – Inline 4 cylinder engine: An engine with 4 cylinders, arranged in a single row.  The I4 is one of the most popular engine configurations today, with nearly every compact and midsize car offering one as standard fare.  It’s combination of small size, light weight, fuel economy and decent power make it a great choice.

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I3 – Inline 3 cylinder engine: An engine with 3 cylinders, arranged in a single row.  Very few cars are produced with an I3 engine.  The only one that comes to mind, in fact, is the late Honda Insight, which used a gas I3 attached to an electric motor.

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OHV- Overhead Valve: The OHV engine is often called a pushrod. The name stems from the design, of course. An OHV engine has the camshaft located on the cylinder block itself, instead of on the cylinder head like a SOHC or DOHC design. The camshaft is attached to pushrods ( hence the nickname ), which are hooked up to little rocker arms, which in turn move the valves. Whew.

OHV engines get a lot of bad press – they are seen as very ‘old’ technology by most people. Indeed, the OHV did come before the OHC, but not by much. OHV’s tend to produce better fuel economy ( that’s part of the reason for the oddity that is the Corvette ) when compared to an OHC engine. However, OHC are often smoother than OHV engines. GM is the biggest producer of OHV engines today, with most of their V6 and V8 engines using an OHV design.

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DOHC – Dual overhead Cam: Two camshafts per bank of cylinders, located on the cylinder head. Example: A DOHC I4 would have 2 cams, while a DOHC V8 would have 4 cams. Again, just like the SOHC design, it’s important to remember that with a DOHC setup, there are two cams per bank of cylinders. Most DOHC engine designs are setup with 4 or even 5 valves per cylinder. DOHC engines tend to make more power higher in the RPM range than do OHV designs. In addition, DOHC engines allow for variable valve timing technology, which can improve fuel economy as well as power output.

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SOHC – Single overhead Cam: One camshaft per bank of cylinders, located on the cylinder head. Example: A DOHC I4 would have 1 cams, while a DOHC V8 would have 2 cams. Many people forget that it’s one cam per bank of cylinders – that’s very important. The majority of SOHC engines are of the 2 valve or 3 valve design, though that’s not a requirement.

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CVT – Continuously variable transmission: An automatic transmission with a nearly infinite number of gear ratios. In general, the more gears a transmission has, the better it can use it’s available power, and the better the fuel economy. With a nearly infinite number of gear ratios, the CVT delivers the best of both worlds.

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