DriveTimes Five

The four score

Best 4-cylinder American cars: You might think the US hadn’t made many fours, with most of its charismatic cars using V8s and sixes. But fours do feature and some were even quite quick, with two Fords being somewhat pivotal.

Ford Model T

1908: It redefined humanity’s perception of land travel, by being as cheap as a horse to buy and maintain and able to travel ten times as far in a day. The only time the Model ‘T’ did without a four was when hot-rodded for drag racing from the late 1940s.

Willys Jeep

1941: With a little help from khaki-clad friends, the General Purpose US Army 4x4 effectively won World War II and became a useful peacetime performer for farmers and families alike. There are still four-cylinder Jeeps available to this day.

Shelby GLHS

1986: Using Chrysler’s transverse frontdrive L-body platform, these three- and five-door hatches were fettled by Carroll Shelby with turbocharged 130kW 2.2-litre engines going from zero to 100kmh in 6.5 seconds. Torquesteer was enormous.

Chevy Vega Cosworth

1975: Cosworth 16v heads on the 2.0-litre Vega blocks helped GM produce very quick versions of the RWD coupe with 100kW on tap and capable of a sub 8-second 0-100kmh. Racing versions doubled the power and proved very reliable.

Ford Mustang

2015: While sixes and V8s will also be available, the new Mustang will have a 2.3-litre turbocharged four in its line-up which – get this – will have 305 horsepower on tap, which is up by 34 horsepower over the top 4.7-litre V8 version 50 years ago.