Of all the common engine layouts, in terms of the number of pistons, there is one that has befuddled people since the dawn of time, the 6 cylinders. Its relatively median number of cylinders allows it to be stretched, compacted, and beefed up to an automaker's fancy into either an inline 6, V6 or flat 6.

These multiple different options have confused people for many years and a lot of them still can't decide which one is better. And because the flat 6 is kind of a Porsche thing exclusively, we're going to disqualify it and pit the inline-6 against the V6 in this comparison.

Packaging Benefits

Ford GT engine
via Autoblog

This comes as a surprise to many, but did you know that the V6 engine layout was designed strictly for packaging purposes? Yep, if you want to pack a 6-cylinder engine into a tight engine bay, an inline-6 will be too long and you'd have to completely redesign the firewall to accommodate the extra length. So. what you would do is take the inline-6, chop it in half, join the two halves at the crankshaft and you'll have yourself a short little powerhouse.

BMW I6

This is the true benefit of the V6, it is easy to shove in any car and create a relatively balanced weight distribution. An inline 6 is sometimes twice as long as a V6, which leaves an extra couple hundred pounds hanging over the front wheels, the worst possible place for weight. That V6 though? You can push as far back into the firewall as you want and still have enough room for activities, not to mention the performance benefit of having the engine's weight closer to the middle of the car.

Round 1 goes to the V6.

Related: 15 Things Most People Don't Know About V6 Engines

Smoothness

I6
via Pinterest

Remember when I said that the V6 was specifically designed for packaging? Well, there's a good reason for that. The V6 engine is probably the least smooth engine layout there is. This is why your Chevy 4.3 liter V6 shakes itself apart and why the Alfa Giulia has so many problems... actually that's just all Alfas (they just break), but the point is that the inline-6 is the way the car gods intended the 6-cylinder layout to be executed.

The two banks of cylinders on a V6 have to be posed at around a 120-degree angle for it to be perfectly balanced, however, if you had the room the put such a wide engine in your car you would have already considered a flat-6 or V8, but you can't, so you have to move the angle up to 90 or 60 degrees and that is where the problems start to occur.

Nissan GTR engine bay
via Motor Authority

Physically, the V6 is not correct in its balancing, it needs balance shafts, counterweights, and other measures to keep them from shaking themselves apart. The inline 6, however, has always been one of the smoothest engine layouts of all time.

And you may be confused about why something with the same amount of cylinders acts so differently, basically, the V6 has a second of everything that the inline 6 does. One extra camshaft, cylinder head, valve train, and many others make the V6 a complicated task to design correctly, which is why the inline-6 makes power so much more smoothly, it is simpler and doesn't have to use balance measures because it already balances itself out.

Round 2 goes to the inline-6.

Related: Swapped! 1986 Toyota Pickup Gets TT Supra 2JZ-GTE

Sound

Nissan R34 engine bay
via Top Gear Philippines

Just as important as an engine's design is its noise. We could go on and on about other ways to judge these engine layouts but sound is a universally important attribute that all car enthusiasts care about, which is why we're including it.

This is tricky because the inline-6 has a history of being so smooth and having such sweet music from old manufacturers like Nissan, Toyota, and BMW especially, but the V6 has had some killer sounding engines in the past. What first comes to mind is the Alfa Romeo V6 known as the "Busso" motor.

Alfa Romeo Busso V6
via Pinterest

It plays beautiful music, looks really cool, and makes good power too. The Busso engine had many different layouts but always sounded good from the factory, and unlike all other V6s in existence, the experience was worth the headache. We could maybe include a Ferrari V6, Acura/Honda V6, or Infinity V6 but those have terrible mechanical noises, like all V6s, and they don't quite beat out the Busso.

However, if you want performance out of an engine that sounds good, responds correctly, and feels smooth, the inline-6 will always be the choice over a V6. Buy an old BMW or an R32 GT-R and try to imagine anything with a V6 that sounds better - you won't be able to.

The third and final round goes to the inline-6.

Next: This Is The Slowest V6 Car America Ever Made