There is no getting away from the fact that the vast majority of cars will come with 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder, and 8-cylinder engines.
Only a small number of cars, sports cars to be particular, will feature 10-cylinder and 12-cylinder engines such as the last-gen RS6 Avant and the Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
Beyond that is almost but not entirely an impossibility for car engines and Bugatti Chiron is one of the few vehicles with an engine that features more than 12 cylinders.
To be precise, this super sports car comes with a 16-cylinder engine that can deliver 1500 maximum horsepower. No car exists that has a 14-cylinder engine at the moment though.
Contents
Why are there no 14-cylinder cars?
The short answer is that these engines have more downsides than benefits in the automotive realm.
1. Research
No car has ever been fitted with a 14-cylinder engine in the history of automobiles. As such, building a car with this type of engine would require a great deal of research.
Manufacturers would need to pay attention to various mechanical issues such as torsional effects in the crankshaft, engine balance, and so much more.
The thought of this kind of work simply discourages many manufacturers from thinking about manufacturing a 14-cylinder engine car.
2. Manufacturing Cost
The cost of doing research and buying the necessary materials to build a 14-cylinder engine car would simply outweigh the benefits that this engine would provide.
Don’t forget that there are already a few car engines with sufficient numbers of cylinders that deliver more than enough horsepower out there.
The 10-cylinder and 12-cylinder engines found in the Lamborghini V10 and the Aston Martin DBS Superleggera, respectively, are in this category.
With that, many manufacturers don’t see the need to spend lots of millions or billions on researching and developing cars that stuff just another equally powerful engine.
They find it rational to better the existing superior engines instead. Maybe we would have a 14-cylinder engine if the technology was affordable for the automobile industry.
3. Size and Weight
Imagine a car that stuffs the engine of an entire ship! Don’t forget that a 14-cylinder engine is what powers a couple of large marine vessels.
For example, Emma Mærsk, the world’s largest container ship is powered by a 14-cylinder engine from the Wärtsilä-Sulzer RTA96-C family. Measuring 27.3 meters (90 ft) long, and weighing 2,300 tonnes, I think this engine is simply too long and bulky for a car.
4. Safety Concerns
Most drag cars have engines with between 8-12 cylinders that can produce a maximum of 10, 000 horsepower and beyond. Because of excessive thrust power from their engines, these cars barely stay on the ground even before they reach their top speeds.
I’ve seen many drag cars fly off momentarily before crashing back onto the tarmac. Luckily, the drivers are trained such that they know how to pull those stunts without getting injured.
Now, imagine how much unsafe thrust power a 14-cylinder engine would generate. Having such an engine in a normal or even super sports car simply would be fatal and manufacturers probably know it.
5. Fuel Consumption
Where I come from, cars with an 8-cylinder engine are the cream of the crop. Many people would love to buy these cars if it wasn’t for their high price tags and fuel consumption rates.
Come to think of it, if they already have higher than normal fuel consumption rates, what about a car with an entire 14 cylinders? You can be sure that you won’t be able to afford to fuel it unless you are very very rich.
Conclusion
We are used to seeing cars with 4-cylinder, 6-cylinder, and 8-cylinder engines. 12-cylinder engine cars are scarce to see on the road.
You’ll mostly see them when you live in an upmarket community like Beverly Hills where those who are super filthy rich can be found.
However, you won’t see any 14-cylinder car anywhere because there’s none and there’re many reasons why. First, a lot of research and money would be required to manufacture these cars.
Secondly, these automobiles would simply be too large and heavy not only for themselves but also for our roads. On top of that, they’ll also be fairly unsafe and expensive to fuel.
