Surely engines with evenly matched pairs of cylinders have to be better, right? Well, the answer isn't quite so straightforward, in-line versus V-formation can make all the difference.
Typically, a V design will be more compact while in-line engines have smoother power delivery. Surprisingly 5-cylinders with a unique firing pattern provide the smoothest power delivery of all, and yet the engine is quite rare, barely a handful of carmakers use this seemingly sweet spot design.
10 Ford Duratec (Focus RS500)
Ford may have adopted the smaller EcoBoost for current Focus RS models, but it was the second generation RS that garnered the most interest among gearheads. Sadly, for US gearheads, this engine never made it to America, being a Ford Europe-only option.
What most performance junkies tend to forget is the Focus is a front-engined front-wheel-drive platform making the 5-cylinder 2.5-liter Duratec motor almost completely hidden under a mass of ducting and hoses. Still, all those hoses serve to keep things cool, handy when you have 345 turbocharged horses at your disposal.
9 Audi TFSI (Audi RS3 Sportback)
Whether or not Audi kick-started the trend for the turbocharged 5-cylinder motor with their legendary Quattro rally monster is irrelevant, what matters now is just how far the performance envelope has been stretched.
The current RS3 Sportback is another modern transverse engine design, Audi's 2.5-liter TFSI engine similarly mounted across the engine bay for front-drive cars, the RS3 however is all-wheel-drive. You might think the cramped engine bay would impact on performance, but you would be wrong, with 400 HP on tap the Rs3 storms to 60 MPH in under 4-seconds.
8 Volvo B5234T5 (Volvo 850 T-5R)
The least likely of names to enter any form of sedan racing actually happened. In 1995, everyone's favorite safe car took to the track, surprisingly scoring several wins and secured the title in 1998.
At the first attempt raising a few eyebrows with the wagon 850 T-5R benefitting from superior aerodynamics and greater levels of downforce, the first season wasn't a huge success but encouraged TWR Volvo to persist. At the heart of this unusual race, Volvo's 2.3-liter cylinder turbo engine producing 225 HP, although later race-spec cars had as much as 290 HP. Never again will Volvo be remembered as just safe and boring.
7 Fiat Family C (Fiat Coupe 20v Turbo)
With typically Italian flamboyance, it really was no major surprise that the Fiat Coupe wouldn't set the world alight with stellar reliability or practicality. But, the Coupe does have its merits, the range-topping 20 valve model with a sweet 2-liter five-cylinder motor had quite a kick to it.
Producing 220 HP and promising a 0-60 MPH time of 6-seconds and almost 150 MPH top speed when it worked. This was after all a Fiat, a brand that somehow managed to ruin every car it made with shoddy build quality issues. Nice Try Fiat.
6 Alfa Romeo JTDm (Alfa Romeo 159Ti)
Few cars embodied the sheer beauty of design quite like an Alfa Romeo, the exquisite attention to details is not just on the outside, under the hood too, Italian flair extending to the oily bits.
In this case, quite literally, Alfa Romeo made the bold decision to offer the 159 with a turbo-diesel engine. This might have seemed like a bad move initially, but many purists actually preferred the surprisingly smooth 5-cylinder diesel engine power and torque characteristics, and with 207 HP available it wasn't exactly a slouch.
5 Audi Sport (Quattro S1 E2)
Success on both road and rally stages made the Quattro a household name synonymous with high-performance and limpet-like levels of grip. Audi keen to exploit its advantage tuned its attentions to Pikes peak, creating the ultimate Quattro.
Sure the S1 E2 sports an oversize widebody kit and outrageous wings, but under the hood, Audi's 2.1-liter 5-cylinder motor remains pretty much stock, save for some strengthened internals and a whole lot more boost to produce 600 HP. Other motorsport variants did appear with more power, but these are IMSA GTO spec cars.
4 Honda RC211V (Honda Moto GP)
Squeezing more cylinders into a similar-sized space isn't easy at the best of times, carmakers finding it easier to use a transverse engine installation for their designs, but what about bike manufacturers? Do they even build 5-cylinder engines?
The answer is yes, Honda managed to pack a 5-cylinder in a compact V-formation under 1-liter in displacement, and extracting 200 HP in the process. Powering Valentino Rossi to the constructor's title in 2002 before taking the off-season chance to update the RC211V for more power, 240 HP to precise, throwing traction control into the mix for good measure.
3 General Motors Vortec 3700 (Hummer H3)
Subtle it isn't! The Hummer was a huge statement of going anywhere do anything attitude that Americans initially loved. However, the love affair with big military-themed off-roaders didn't last, Hummer died in 2009.
The gas-guzzling dream of V8 power wasn't the only engine option, GM offered two versions of their 5-cylinder Vortec motors, the larger 3.7-liter lump delivering up a very respectable 244 HP. However, the Hummer's immense bulk put paid to any tarmac shredding performance.
2 Audi RS2 Avant
Powered by Porsche might be stretching the Audi RS2 description a little thin! Under the Porsche emblazoned cam covers, we find a modified version of Audi's 2.2-liter 5-cylinder engine.
Porsches' experience in high-performance engine tuning did however contribute to the car's new camshaft and low-pressure exhaust system, which combined with a larger turbocharger and intercooler resulted in a net 315 HP. At the time, the RS2 was the first proper in-house sports wagon to hit the market, giving serious gearheads genuine reasons to buy a wagon.
1 Honda G25A1 (Acura Vigor)
A quirky piece of '90s Japanese motoring that is hard to place among other models and makers, the Vigor sitting somewhere between its own Integra and Legend models, an interim model in more ways than one.
Where the Integra and Legend had four and six cylinders respectively, Vigor had the more unusual 5-cylinder configuration, with only the 176 HP 2.5-liter model making it to US shores. Unlike the few other carmakers with 5-pot engines, Acura adopted a longitudinal installation requiring the engine to lean over by 30-degrees to cleat the hood. We did say the Vigor was unusual.