They don’t necessarily concern themselves with the look so much as the overall utility of the vehicle. People with large families, or who live in the country, or even just enjoy the outdoors all benefit from these types of vehicles.

Those who enjoy having an SUV but cannot handle the expense in gas or allow themselves to stomach the lack of concern they feel they might have for their carbon footprint can reduce both by downsizing to a four cylinder model of SUV.

There are many of these economical variant SUVs that can be purchased for a low price and continue to pay off in the long run via fuel economy. To be fair they are often smaller and sometimes don’t have the motorized muscle of their larger cousins and none of them are as fuel efficient as a smaller automobile.

However, the end result is that in a proper 4 cylinder SUV the owner can squeeze anywhere from three to seven more miles per gallon out of a tank of gas than in the larger cylinder cousins it shares the road with. This will vary between two wheel and four wheel drive models as well as automatic versus manual transmission versions.

A four wheeled automatic will expend a great deal more fuel per mile than a two wheel drive manual transmission for instance. This fuel economy can be greatly enhanced if an individual were to purchase a modern hybrid SUV as well.

There are several options for a four cylinder SUV. There are diesel versions, hybrid versions, and regular gas versions. The key is to determine a price point and purpose for purchasing the 4 cylinder SUV.

As far as diesel versions go they will generally not has a great an amount of fuel economy as far as miles per gallon goes, but the price of diesel is cheaper in some areas than gasoline and this translates to a cheaper overall ride. The Jeep Liberty is a good suggestion in regards to a quality diesel based SUV.

As far as hybrids go the cheapest on the market in 2009 was the Saturn Vue Hybrid. It had the worst fuel economy but the largest gas tank. It only got twenty-five miles per gallon in the city and thirty-two on the highway.

However, overall it was a good bargain and the hybrid nature placed it in line with many standard gas consuming vehicles in comparison to other SUV’s. In regards to standard gas SUVs there is little that can go wrong with purchasing an older model or even a current model XTerra.

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The Year, Make and Model can affect how different engines will perform

It is important to note that a 4 cylinder engine has four pistons and usually are in smaller cars for instance a Toyota Tacoma is a compact pickup truck first generation models from 1995 to 2004, two wheel drive Tacoma’s came with the 2.4L and the 2.7L four cylinder engine, while 6 cylinder engines has six pistons and are usually found on most passenger cars, vans and small trucks such as found in GMC truck V6 engine produced in 1960 to 1978 in the Chevrolet 250 cid inline 6. Theoretically the more pistons would equal more horsepower.

Is a 6 cylinder V6 engine better than a 4 cylinder engine?

The inline 6 has been replaced by the V6 engine because of its compact size and high performance engine is why it’s the best choice if you’re looking for a high power engine while still maintaining a great fuel economy for your SUV. The 4 cylinder as a straight or inline is standard in most vehicles and is considered an economy engine. Its lower emissions and fuel efficiency makes it the engine of choice for those concerned about the impact on the environment. So to determine which engine is better will depend on what you are looking for in the next automobile you purchase though more cylinders equal more power when comparing different engines.

Advances in Technology for the Modern 4 cylinder

Many had thought that 4 cylinders were short on acceleration, this is changing with Japanese auto makers building high performance SUV’s such as in the Toyota sports utility, where you have the choice of purchasing the Highlander, Rav4 and the new 2010 Toyota 4runner has a 2.7 liter four cylinder engine that produces 157 horsepower, the only difference between a modern 4 cylinder compared to a V6 is the cost, due to the advancement in performance over the last decade.

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