V6, Inline 6 or Inline 5??

[Davey]

"In my humble opinion, big heavy blocks arent ideally suited to a lightweight sportscar, generally youll see a lot of understeer and a bit too much torque at the back. Thats just my opinion though so dont take it too seriously."

A heavy motor isn't ideal for a lightweight sports car I agree but it doesn't necessarily upset the handling and doesn't necessarily give understeer. If it is mounted further back in the engine bay to centralise its mass then it shouldn't give any more understeer than a Zetec would.

"too much torque at the back" I don't understand what you're saying here. Do you mean it would give too much torque at the wheels being a bigger engine with more torque produced lower in the rev range or are you suggesting the torque reaction might twist the chassis?

Having been in the motor and related industries for 35 years I was brought up on the principle of TTW, Torque Turns Wheels. Personally I'd rather have a bigger motor giving a wide spread of torque across the range over a small capacity revvy lump with little torque at the bottom end and then a sudden surge higher up the rev range. Each to their own of course but with a better spread of torque you don't always need to be changing gear to keep it in the "power band".

It also depends on what you intend to do with the car, if its intended as a quick and fun roadcar, as mine is planned to be, then the bigger lump will give more relaxed driving. If you intend to use it mostly at track days or even as a full on race car, whether for hillclimbing/sprinting or circuit racing then the smaller capacity, lighter weight peaky engine may well be a better option.

Just my thoughts,
D.