Well Ive always preferred a hatch/wagon over a sedan. Which the vast majority of these new SUVs are with a few odd exceptions like that Accord cross thing and X6.
I do have to imagine this 6 is going into something more like an Explorer and RWD based.
Its inherently balanced which is why theyre so smooth and ideal. Just a packaging challenge. Honestly I think packaging often is the primary design constraint and they just have to engineer around everything else.
So I completely understand the ingress/egress thing. As for safety I think that has more to do with the vehicle being well designed with safety in mind than inherently a attribute of its form factor. So do we really need the pseudo sport pretense and plastic cladding and so on? Or do we just...
I doubt the 6 would sound quieter per se. And I believe the Skyactiv X itself sounds kind of diesel like due to the high compression ( spark controlled) ignition. Ergo itll probably sound like a diesel I6.
Youre probably just hearing the injectors. DI motors, especially on cold start, are kinda noisy. I think whats being referred to is smooth from a vibration standpoint.
From the standpoint of power and displacement? The 2.0 Skyactiv X is higher than a typical NA but not as high as forced induction would typically be. So ..... I guess closer to NA from a specific output but probably its own thing.
I wonder if Skyactiv X has a per cylinder displacement limitation. There is good reason 2.0 I 4 is so common and why BMW does 1.5 I3, 2.0 I4, and 3.0 I6.
Oh nice. I have always loved the straight six. I wonder if theyre going to do a staggered narrow angle like VW. Or maybe SkyactivX just packages easier than Skyactiv 1.