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The smoother you want the engine to run, the heavier some of the masses need to be. I'm thinking of mainly the crank weights and the mass of the flywheel. These would help with smoothness at idle and low engine speeds. The higher they spin the engine, the greater the need for the balance shaft. They could go with a lower rev limit, which isn't always a bad thing when turbocharging an engine.
The other thing to consider is that 3 cylinder engines are usually quite small in displacement. VW has done a few over the years and they were generally between 1 and 1.5 liters. If you make a large displacement 3, the individual cylinder displacement quickly becomes large. This isn't conducive to a smooth engine, as you might remember from some of Porsches' other entry level products.
I also question whether the public will accept a lower-performing Porsche, in an age where even the pedestrian Hondas are getting pretty quick. I suppose you can't blame Porsche, as it's the f'ing politicians that are making the future fuel economy rules.
Some of you gun enthusiasts need to take care of this problem.
JR
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