EXPLAINED: THE MEANING OF 1.5L, 1.6L, 1.8L, 2.4L, 3.8L, 6.2L  IN CARS.

You may have noticed that cars, whether of 4,6,8 cylinders have these numbers on their bodies and/or their engines.        Have you ever wondered what they mean and how you can make a good choice of car knowing what they mean?

They are known as Swept volumes and refer to the combined volume capacity of all the cylinders. Moreover, it means the total breathing capacity of the entire cylinders of the vehicle. It is basically the amount of air intake the cylinders need to maintain combustion as the pistons move up and down.

Swept volume is express in cubic centimeters. 1L = 1000cm√3, 1.6L = 1600cm√3, 3.0L =3000cm√3, 6.2L = 6200cm√3 etc.

A car with a swept volume of 1500cm√3 is expressed as 1.5L, the one with 2400cm√3 is expressed as 2.4 and so forth and so on.

All cars have swept volumes even if not indicated on them. This so because they all have their individual cylinder air intake which is a basic necessity for the engine to run and when combined, we have the car’s swept volume.

Usually, higher swept volumes mean higher power, higher fuel consumption and and better road performance.            For example, a Toyota Camry with swept volume of 2.2L has a better road performance than Toyota Corolla with a swept volume of 1.8L. But the Camry consumes more fuel which accounts for that better performance. In this instance, the Camry which has bigger cylinders, sucks more air and fuel for combustion which help it perform better.

However, now it need not be that the higher the swept volume, the better the performance due to the different fuel efficiency techniques and performance equipment in modern inventions.        For instance, Geely Coolray (2021) has a swept volume of 1.5L but it outperforms so many cars of higher swept volumes. This is because it is equipped with Turbo charger which helps to compress more air in the combustion chamber.

Also Toyota Corolla that has variable valves with timing intelligence (vvt-i) performs better than some cars with higher swept volumes and yet consumes less fuel. This is due to the fuel efficiency technique (vvt-i).

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