What do you think of 3 cylinder cars like the one used on Mitsubishi Mirage, new Chevy Trailblazer, Ford EcoSport etc. Since they get great gas mileage having an engine that small, are they worth the money?
What do you think of 3 cylinder cars like the one used on Mitsubishi Mirage, new Chevy Trailblazer, Ford EcoSport etc.
They are short-lived junk.
3 cylinder cars
It's not necessarily a bad thing - it depends on wether the manufacturer has designed it well.
For example, Toyota has a 3 cylinder 1.5L engine for the European and Asian markets (it probably will not come to the US) that gets 41% efficiency (insanely high) without all of the insane tech you'd find in other cars - and with only 90 horsepower it manages to almost constantly stay in it's most effect range. Overall a pretty solid generator and a source of additional boost for the hybrid system.
They have installed it in small cars like the Toyota Yaris, and it managed to install it even in large cars - it has no issue moving the 2,800 lbs 7 seater Suzuki Grand Vitara "Strong Hybrid" and its reasonably quick (0-62mph in 11.5 seconds, and gets very good gas millage with Suzuki Claiming 65 mpg and real world data showing 55 mpg)
But I'm unsure if that makes much sense, in the realm of highly effect cars, the competitors have 4 cylinder engines that do equally as well, for instance the Hyundai-Kia 1.6L HEV engine has 40% thermal efficiency (just a little bit less) and although it has direct injection it doesn't seem like having a 4th cylinder has impacted it negatively - if anything it feels more refined.
Personally I'd stick to a regular super efficient 4 cylinder without all of that crazy tech - I (live outside of the US and) have the "1.4L" (1.368L) Kappa engine mated to a good old boring 6 speed conventional automatic (and none of that space age tech, no auto start stop, no variable valve lift, no direct injection, no swift flaps, just a regular boring small engine) and these small crossovers achieve 40-50 mpg in mixed driving on a regular basis.
Mitsubishi Mirage, new Chevy Trailblazer, Ford EcoSport etc. Since they get great gas mileage having an engine that small, are they worth the money?
Now, about the cars you're linking to here, one by one.
The Mitsubishi Miraj is a joke, it's the most dangerous car in America, the engine on these is not build to last it's outdated junk as it was even by 2003 standards, the transmission is a HORRIBLE Jatco CVT, the weakest of one in the Jatco lineup -
and that absolutely miserable box with wheels only gets only 4 mpg more than a MUCH bigger Toyota Corolla 2.0L with twice the power and a fun launch gear CVT (and other stuff, like safety, and seats that aren't made of a single piece of foam)
As far as the chevy, no information on it yet - but at 31 mpg combined it looses out to the Toyota Corolla Cross with 32 mpg combined and a 4 cylinder 2.0L, which is just a better car in every aspect.
Lastly, As much as I like the EcoSport with the 1.6L and the 6 speed auto - the 1.5L engine on those blows head gaskets left right and center, and that tiny absolute pile of junk only gets 28 mpg - that's no where near it's competitors like the car I have.
So yeah those are horrible examples.
The only 3 cylinder cars I would consider are Suzuki, because that is kinda their speciality. Small displacement kei cars.
