Descending - Engine braking, and modern, small 3-cylinder engines

Kinja'd!!! by "TchmilFan" (tchmilfan)
Published 09/06/2017 at 11:36

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This falls into the “I might rent a small car on holiday (or maybe, even, drive all the way there in the Mini) and I’d prefer to know beforehand” category.

On long mountain road descents, normal speeds: 40-70mph, do small 3-cylinder engines provide sufficient resistance in 5th/6th to help stop brakes from cooking? Never driven down anything severe/long enough to find out.

Please excuse ignorance. Longest hills near me are done after 1.5 mins max.

Replies (2)

Kinja'd!!! "Sir_Stig: and toxic masculinity ruins the party again." (sir-stig)
09/06/2017 at 13:34, STARS: 0

Hypothetically they should provide more resistance I would think...

Kinja'd!!! "xc90v8/I4 :(" (xc90v8)
09/06/2017 at 20:11, STARS: 1

I regularly drive a 1.0 Focus. And it provides almost no engine braking I’m afraid. Never had brakes overheating when driving serious hills either though..

Don’t know about any other tiny engined cars.