The Car With the Most Engines

[Futuramic]

Years ago, the general consensus for engine types went as follows (in size order)

 

Britain - Straight Four, Straight Six

 

Germany - Straight Four, Straight Six

 

America - Straight Six, Vee Eight

 

Everyone Else - Straight Four, Vee Six

 

In the nineties that all changed. My question is, and I may have already answered it, which car has been offered with the greatest number of distinctive engine types. The best candidate I could think of was the Mercedes W210 E Class.

 

This thing for the uninitiated. This is an old picture so the rust hasn't appeared yet.

 

Anyway; at various points this car was offered with a: Straight Four, Straight Five, Straight Six, Vee Six and Vee Eight.

 

I can't think of any other chassis that has come with such a diverse number of cylinder configurations. Can you?

[brammy777]

No, I honestly can't think of any cars with that amount of engines on offer. You could also include cars which have a stupid amount of engine sizes availible, for example the third generation Chevrolet Caprice had an inline six, two V6s, four V8s and one Diesel V8 on offer. American cars of that era often came with the option of a rather diverse engine selection, a lot of it was down to the parent company having so many brands at their disposal, they could offer one engine in quite a few of the cars they made.

[dollywobbler]

Must be a German thing. Am I right in thinking that the B5 Passat could be had with a four-pot, V5, V6 and W8? Not sure about the V5 bit but it's interesting variety!

[scaryoldcortina]

I'm going to vote for autofive's scimitar

[Guest Leonard Hatred]

Even the W124 has a mind boggling array of engines, same selection as the W210 minus the V6.

 

There's a lot of variety in the diesels alone - straight 4, 5, 6 diesels atmo or turbo 2 valve or 4 valve

[Pillock]

Must be a German thing. Am I right in thinking that the B5 Passat could be had with a four-pot, V5, V6 and W8? Not sure about the V5 bit but it's interesting variety!

 

Yes, it could. W8s are rare and scarily complex, but I've seen a couple around. Quite the sleeper.

V5 is a nice engine - more accurately it's a VR5 as it uses a narrow angle and one head, same as the earlier VR6.

My OCD would have liked them to offer the V7 just to keep the run going.

[Tayne]

.

[dollywobbler]

When did the Defender have a straight six?

[Tayne]

.

[Rocket88]

Ford Capri had a few, straight 4, V4, V6, V8 in South Africa

[ashmicro]

Brabus offered a V12 7.3 W210.

 

 

Dunno if that counts.

[Albert Ross]

Australian variants had it....

Also, considering the Series 1 morphed into the Defender.... via the S2, 2a, and 3,

1500 IOEV 4

1600 IOEV 4

2000 IOEV 4 (2 types with different bore spreads)

2625 IOEV 6 (2 types, 5 and 7 bearing)

2286 petrol OHV 4 (3 types).. 2x3 bearing, and 1x5 bearing.

2495 petrol OHV 4

3528 petrol OHV 4

3429 petrol OHV 6

Rolls Royce B30 (I think) petrol 4

 

The Turner 2 cylinder Diesel

The Turner 3 cylinder Diesel

2052 Diesel OHV 4

2286 Diesel OHV 4 (2 types, 3 and 5 bearing)

3429 Diesel OHV 6

2495 Diesel OHV 4

2495 Diesel OHV 4 Turbo

2495 Diesel OHV 4 Turbo "200"

2495 Diesel OHV 4 Turbo "300"

2495 Diesel OHC 5 Turbo Td5

2400 Diesel OHC 4 Turbo Tdci

 

And that's not counting the Australian, South African, and all Spanish/Belgian variants.

[Guest]

What you need is something European enough to end up with some weird engine like a V4 or any 5-cylinder, but with some weird V8 variant available in South Africa or something. Then if you're lucky, they'll have sourced the diesels from somewhere else and have an out-of-character engine configuration (V6s when they only use Inlines usually). Can't think of anything that quite ticks all the boxes though.

[Pete-M]

Brabus offered a V12 7.3 W210.

 

 

Dunno if that counts.

 

I've driven the estate version of that. Lunatic machine. Almost impossible to tell it's mental when driven gently, a proper bit of engineering. Indecently quick too. I'd love one, but I'm about £20k short.

[Negative Creep]

Volvo S80

 

I4

I4 TD

I5

I5 TD

I6

I6 turbo

V8

[dollywobbler]

South African Defenders during the BMW era had the 2.8litre M52 engine

 

Excellent. Another fact to file away. Hope it doesn't push something useful out...

[seth]

[Des]

^ That tractors mudguards are on backwards.