5 Oddball Cars With V4 Engines

Before the inline-four became the go-to default engine and the V6 was compact enough to fit into small engine bays, the four-wheeled automotive world saw the V4 as a brilliant compromise. It was shorter than a comparable inline-four and lighter than the V6, and more importantly, it promised compact packaging without sacrificing performance. However, it didn't catch on in four wheels as its larger siblings — the V6 and V8 — did. The first proper production car to feature a V4 engine was the Lancia Lambda in the early 1920s, which was a car way ahead of its time. The Lambda's V4 layout allowed for a narrow engine that helped with better packaging. The Lambda set the path for other V4 cars (and vans) both within its fold and elsewhere.

The compact nature of a V4 lends it rigidity alongside a stiffer crankshaft compared to longer inline-four cranks. That's why the V4 engine never died; it simply migrated to bikes, so you can still find plenty of modern breakdowns focused on what makes the engine so good. But cars stopped using inline four engines because of cost and complexity. V4 engines emit plenty of vibrations and require a balancer shaft or clever crank designs to counter them, making them comparatively harder to service and more expensive to manufacture. The inline-four is cheaper and has, over the years, become refined, more efficient, and more powerful thanks to advancements in turbocharging.

That said, there are quite a few oddball V4-engined creations peppered across the automotive timeline. Certain cars (and vans) from Ford, Saab, Lancia, and Matra used these engines, allowing them to deviate from the mainstream and leave a lasting impression.

While you'd expect the V4 engine in lightweight sports cars, it was also used in commercial vans, such as the first-generation Ford Transit. Ford launched the Transit MK1 in 1965 in the United Kingdom. Before the Transit, most British vans were slow, with forward control cabs where the driver sat over the engine bay. The Transit changed this with its Essex V4 engine that sat behind the van's iconic "pig snout" nose.

This particular V4 was a compact overhead-valve engine that comfortably sat inside the tiny engine bay, which improved driver comfort and maximized rear cargo space. In the U.K., the Transit came with 1.7-liter and 2.0-liter V4 engines that delivered between 72 and 90 horsepower, respectively, making the Transit the fastest van of its time. It also had car-like handling characteristics, which attracted a unique clientele. According to Classic & Sports Car, Scotland Yard called the Ford Transit "the perfect getaway vehicle" which was used in 95% of bank raids thanks to its performance and 1.75 tons of cargo space. Since then, the Transit evolved into more law-abiding roles and used different power trains, including electric. In fact, the Ford E-Transit is one of the most exciting electric cars today. 

The Essex V4 did vibrate a lot, despite Ford using a timing-gear-driven balancer shaft to keep the van from shaking itself apart. It was rugged, though, and it made the Transit a cultural icon in Britain. It wasn't the automaker's only V4, though. Across the pond, Ford Germany had the "Taunus" V4 (not to be confused with Ford's Taurus), which actually found use in a few notable Saab models.

Saab has been known for its left-of-center creations (and also for being the first carmaker to prove autonomous EVs worked), but its Sonett was truly an oddball model. The Sonett was originally designed around Saab's three-cylinder two-stroke motor, which was light, smoked a lot, and sounded like a lawn mower. However, its most important market in the mid-sixties — the U.S. — was cracking down on emissions, and the tiny two-stroke wouldn't cut it. Saab wanted a replacement that would fit inside the Sonett's tiny fiberglass nose.

The solution came from Ford Germany's Taunus V4. Saab took the 1.5-liter motor and shoehorned it into the Sonett's tiny engine bay. However, the V4 sat too high, so to accommodate it, Saab had to add a bulge to the hood. The V4 made 60 horsepower, but in a car with a lightweight fiberglass body that weighed less than 1,500 pounds, it was enough to propel the Sonett II to 105 miles per hour.

The Sonett II was a unique drive. It retained Saab's freewheel system developed for its two-stroke engines, which allowed the car to coast without engine braking. The early models featured a column-shift manual transmission that moved to a floor-shifter assembly in the Sonet III, along with more aerodynamic bodywork. The V4 remained, though, until the Sonett was discontinued in 1974.

Despite Lancia's checkered history, the Fulvia is one of its finest creations. Produced from 1963 to 1976, the Fulvia's V4 engine arguably set forth the template for Volkswagen's highly-acclaimed VR6 engine. At a time when other car makers were dabbling with V engines featuring 60-degree and 90-degree bank angles, the Fulvia had a narrow-angle V4 where the cylinders featured an offset of 12 degrees. This strange and clever design allowed both banks to share a massive cylinder head. 

The benefits were the performance of a V4 engine and the compactness and easy serviceability of an inline-four engine. The Fulvia's V4 was mounted at 45 degrees in the engine bay to keep the center of gravity low, and it sent power to the front wheels. The 1.1-liter V4 (later enlarged to 1.3-liter and 1.6-liter HF engines) featured a DOHC layout with twin side draft Solex carburetors. The Fulvia 1.6 produced anywhere from 113 to 165 horsepower while weighing in at around 1,820 pounds, making it a giant slayer in rallying circuits.

Driving the Fulvia was a surprising experience. You'd expect it to heavily understeer, given how the engine is placed so far ahead. But it did nothing of the sort thanks to Lancia's sorted suspension tune. Even though the engine sounds weirdly different, it emits the mechanical growl of an inline-four at low revs but changes tune as the revs rise. The engine won the International Championship for Manufacturers in 1972 for Lancia and is one of the most elegant applications of the V4 configuration ever made. These cars were so special that you'd be compelled to wonder if $27,500 is actually a great price for an older model.

The Ford Capri was launched in Europe in 1969 as the European equivalent of the Mustang, seeking to be a stylish, affordable coupe for the masses. The early-model entry-level and top-spec Mark-1 Capris could be had with a V4 motor, depending on which side of Europe you were in. The Capri was imported to the U.S., but not as a Ford; rather, it was sold as a Mercury model. Its nameplate remained, but the V4 engine didn't.

In the U.K., the Capri featured Kent 1.3 and 1.6-liter inline-fours, as well as a 2.0-liter Essex V4 (shared with the Transit van) engine. Meanwhile, Ford Germany offered the Capri with 1.3-liter, 1.5-liter, and 1.7-liter Taunus V4 engines. The smaller V4s offered decent performance but lacked the smoothness found in the inline-six engines found in top-spec Capris. The Essex V4, meanwhile, offered good performance for its time, despite offering 91 horsepower in a car that weighed a tad over 2200 pounds. It added to the Capri's affordable character.

V4 Capris are a rare sight today, as the engine was quickly replaced by the Pinto inline-four or the more powerful Cologne V6 engines. Even so, the Ford Capri Mk1 sits in a pivotal timeline where Ford was committed to the V4 engine. If things had gone differently, that engine could have changed the course of automotive history.

Matra is a lesser-known automotive company with an interesting past. It was a French aerospace and weapons company before it ventured into the automotive business, eventually winning races at Le Mans and Formula 1. The Matra M530, launched in 1967, had shadows of the automaker's past with a name that was based on its former R.530 air-to-air missile. The M530 was a mid-engined 2+2 sports car, which made it a packaging nightmare. How do you fit four individuals and an engine in the back of a car that's just under 14 feet long?

The answer was obvious: Use a V4. Matra turned to Ford Germany for propulsion, borrowing its 1.7-liter Taunus V4. Given the engine's short dimensions, Matra could install the engine longitudinally behind the rear seats. This still left room for a usable trunk plus a targa top, which could be stored under the front hood.

The Matra M530 looked like nothing else on the road, boasting a low-slung fiberglass body with pop-up headlights. It wasn't particularly quick, though, with top speed hovering around 111 miles per hour. In fact, the V4 was criticized for its insipid performance in a space-age sports car. But the model still impressed some with its fantastic dynamics. The Matra M530 was an oddball car that seemed to be built for eccentric drivers. It didn't sell in big numbers, but it went on to become a brilliant example of how a V4 engine allowed designers to break the rules of vehicle proportions.