What if you wanted to get more power than possible from a four-cylinder engine, but with a motor that wasn’t as heavy and thirsty for fuel as a six-cylinder mill? The obvious solution for Mercedes-Benz was the 3.0-liter five-cylinder diesel engine introduced with the 1974 300D sedan. And since the I5 was based on Mercedes-Benz’s four-cylinder engines of the time, building the new powerplant would be relatively easy and cost-effective. It would go on to be impressively durable, too, with models anecdotally known for crossing the 500,000-mile threshold.
However, the automaker most closely associated with five-cylinder engines is probably another German company, in this case Audi. The Four-rings brand got into five-cylinder engines in 1976 when it featured a 2.1-liter example capable of making 136 horsepower. The Audi 100 was the first gas-powered car with a five-cylinder engine, chosen for its compact packaging that would help achieve a better balance of weight distribution.
And so it’s fitting that the last new car you can get with a five-cylinder engine today is an Audi (although in 2027, the new VW Golf R is getting the same mill). The track-friendly Audi RS 3 compact sport sedan takes to the pavement with a turbocharged 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine that takes drivers from zero-to-60 in a brisk 3.6 seconds — courtesy of the 396 horsepower and 369 pound-feet of torque being routed through its quattro all-wheel-drive system.
The RS3 got a transformative injection of fun last year, and according to our own Daniel Golson, who drove the car in both scenarios, the 2025 RS3 is “a genuine delight to drive whether you’re on track or a tight mountain pass.” Golson gave credit to features like the RS3’s enhanced multi-clutch, torque-splitting rear differential, which gained torque vectoring for 2025, along with upgraded adaptive dampers and the available Pirelli P Zero Trofeo R tires. Plus, the various digital updates didn’t seem to distract from the driving experience.
Talking about the torque vectoring, Golson reported, “It’s subtle enough that I don’t really feel the system working; the car is just naturally playful and more responsive.” As for today’s topic, the RS3’s turbocharged five-cylinder powerplant, it carried over unchanged for this year. So it remains “one of the most entertaining and characterful engines on sale.”
Inside, the revised RS3 still shows a bit too much plastic for some people’s tastes, and the new flat-bottomed and flat-topped steering wheel may take some getting used to. However, the cockpit continues to be an enjoyable place to spend time. Deluxe details include a new-for-2026 standard head-up display to complement also standard features like a panoramic sunroof, heated Nappa leather seats, a Bang & Olufsen sound system, and an RS-specific virtual cockpit driver display. Fast, fun, and comfortable, the RS3 is keeping the five-cylinder flame burning bright.
Beyond Audi and Mercedes-Benz — which offered five-cylinder passengers cars as late as 2006 — a number of other automakers have tried their luck with five-cylinder engines. The 1989 JDM Acura Vigor, for instance, stood out from the crowd with a 2.5-liter five-cylinder engine that was unlike typical five-cylinder setups because it was both longitudinally mounted and tilted over at a 35-degree angle. Now, the Vigor might be one of the cars you forgot existed, since it was only on sale in the U.S. from 1992 through 1994, but by then, the Volvo 850 was in production.
The 850, in fact, went on sale in 1991, and its 2.3-liter five-cylinder engine sparked a major change in Volvo’s approach to powertrains. The automaker would end up committing to five-cylinder motors for most of its lineup in the following years, not phasing them out until 2014. The same powerplant was put to work in the Ford Focus for a while — remember, Ford owned Volvo from 1999 to 2010 — motivating the hot-hatch Focus RS500 with 345 turbocharged ponies.
Nor was Ford the only domestic car company to offer a five-cylinder motor: GM basically lopped off a cylinder from a pre-existing I6 truck engine to create an I5 for the 2004 to 2012 pickups like the Chevrolet Colorado, GMC Canyon, and Hummer H3 pickups. It was the one and only inline five-cylinder ever mass-produced in the United States.
