How big is that engine?
Engine displacement is a volume: the total swept by every piston in one revolution. It spans six orders of magnitude.
Almost exactly a family car
2 L is bigger than 3 of the 9 references on this page.
Reference figures are measurements and are rounded; the unit conversion behind them is exact.
| Reference | Size | Yours ÷ theirs | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| 50 cc scooter | 0.05 L | 40× | |
| 600 cc motorcycle | 0.6 L | 3.33× | |
| small city car | 1 L | 2× | |
| family car | 2 L | 1× | |
| V8 muscle car | 5.7 L | 0.351× | |
| Bugatti Chiron W16 | 8 L | 0.25× | |
| lorry diesel | 13 L | 0.154× | |
| locomotive diesel | 106 L | 1/53 | |
| Wärtsilä RT-flex96C | 25,480 L | 1/12,740 | The largest engine ever built |
Worth knowing
- The Wärtsilä RT-flex96C ship engine displaces 25 480 litres — twelve thousand times a family car — and makes 80 MW.
- A litre is 1 000 cc, so a "1.6 litre" engine and a "1600 cc" engine are the same thing written for different markets.
Frequently asked
What does engine displacement mean?
The total volume swept by all the pistons moving from bottom to top once. It sets roughly how much air the engine can process per revolution, and therefore how much fuel it can burn.
Does a bigger engine mean more power?
Historically yes, but forced induction broke the link. A 2.0-litre turbo now routinely beats a 3.5-litre naturally aspirated engine of twenty years ago.