What Do You Think of the New 3-Cylinder Engines?

John Paul, aka “the Car Doctor,’’ answers readers’ car-related questions.

Q. I have seen three cylinder engines being offered. Ford has one in the Fiesta and Mitsubishi has one in their Mirage. I remember the Geo Metro with its three cylinder engine and it was terrible, what do you think of these new three cylinder engines?

A. I have not driven the Mirage but recently have driven the Fiesta with the 1.0 liter Ecoboost engine and the five-speed manual transmission and found it to be a very useable combination. The performance as long as you took advantage of the power supplied by the turbocharger was more than adequate and made for a fun to drive car. Even more impressive was the fuel economy, I averaged 43 miles per gallon in a 50/50 mix of city highway driving. This is mileage approaching that of a typical hybrid car.

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