5 Facts That Might Just Make You A 3-Cylinder Convert

Heard the one about Ford's 1.0, 3cyl engine? It's no joke. Here are 5 facts, which might colour you intrigued

18 May 2015

1. You can extract 200bhp from a 1.0

Given a special tune-up, you can extract 200bhp from a 1.0-litre Ecoboost. Here it is powering a Formula Ford racer around the Nurburgring in 7min 22sec...

...and here it is being tested by Chris Harris on public roads:

2. It's no slouch and very refined

Put underneath the bonnet of Ford's Fiesta model (and in its most potent 123bhp guise) you'll hit 62mph from standing in 9.4sec and 122mph flat out. It's also a very refined engine, as we found out with our latest long-termer.

3. Not limited to small cars

Don't rule out the possibility of a 1.0-litre Transit van further down the line...

Don't think the 1.0-litre Ecoboost finds its home in the Fiesta only. It's already under the bonnet of the Focus, B-Max and C-Max models and will make its way into the new Mondeo in 2014. It's currently in development with the S-Max people carrier too. What's next? A 1.0-litre Ford Transit? Don't rule it out...

4. It won Engine of the Year 2013

The UK-designed and engineered 1.0-litre EcoBoost won International Engine of the Year 2013. And 2012. In fact, the EcoBoost achieved the highest score in the 15-year history of the awards; not bad for an engine whose block will fit onto a sheet of A4 paper.

Because of the unit's popularity, Ford's engine plant in Germany recently doubled its production and now cranks out 1000 units per day. Interestingly too, Ford tells us that of the people who test drive a triple-equipped Fiesta, 60 per cent of those people buy the car.

5. Easy to tune

ECU tuning specialist Superchips offers a simple ECU upgrade, which boosts power from 123bhp to 139bhp and torque from 148lb ft to 174lb ft. The plug-in and go upgrade costs £399 and gives the Focus triple a 0-62mph time of around 10.3sec (down from 11.3sec) a top speed of 125mph (est), up from 120mph.

Of course, many of you will turn your noses up at an engine like this, but the power, performance and refinement levels cannot be denied. Anyone yet a convert?