Stormy Six

E N G I N E R O O M ~ By David Beard

The Hurricane comes in two versions that share 96 parts, but not crankshafts, rods, or pistons.

Stormy Warning: Hurrica T ne here ’ s a coming. Six While new electric vehicles grab headlines, Stellantis is confident there ’ s a place for Stellantis’s new turbo engines that suck, squeeze, inline-six defies the bang, and blow. Its latest electrified barometer. i nt e r n a l - c o m b u s t i o n offering is the Hurricane, a twin-turbocharged 3.0-liter inline-six that can slot into various engine bays across Stellantis brands. The 2023 Jeep Grand Wagoneer and Grand Wagoneer L will offer a high-output version with 510 horsepower and 500 pound-feet of torque (buyers can swap out the 2022’ s 471-hp 6.4-liter V-8 for the Hurricane for $2000). A slightly less stormy variant, with 420 horses and 468 poundfeet, will plug into the 2023 Wagoneer and Wagoneer L. Stellantis says the Hurricane will fit in place of any of its longitudinally mounted V-6s or V-8s, so expect it to replace the aged 5.7- and 6.4-liter V-8s in other Jeep and Ram products.

Stellantis is just the latest manufacturer to move to a high-performance inline-six. Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover, and BMW also have straight-sixes, with BMW’ s 503hp S58 3.0-liter leading the horsepower charge . . . until now.

With 510 horsepower, the high-output Hurricane becomes the most powerful inline-six on the market, trumping BMW’s 503-hp twin-turbo 3.0-liter.

Instead of having one big turbocharger, the Hurricane uses two smaller turbos, each fed by three cylinders to minimize lag. In the high-output engine, the turbos pressurize the intake manifold up to 26.0 psi. The turbos are smaller in the standardoutput engine, where they can deliver 22.4 pounds of boost. An electric pump circulates coolant after shutdown.

L O S S E S A N D G A IN S Predictably, the Hurricane is lighter than the castiron-block V-8s it’s destined to replace. The standard version weighs 430 pounds, and the high-output engine comes in at 441. In the Grand Wagoneer, it delivers 1- to 2-mpg gains in EPA fuel economy, so expect similar results in other models. The Hurricane will eventually pair with the brand’s eTorque and plugin-hybrid technologies. B L O C K PA R T Y The aluminum block’s bore and stroke of 84.0 by 90.0 millimeters add up to 2993 cubic centimeters of displacement. A plasma transferred wire arc process lines the cylinders with a coating that is stronger and lighter than traditional iron sleeves. H E A D G A M E S The 24-valve aluminum head has sodium-filled exhaust valves. Wide-range cam phasers enable a broad powerband. Fuel is delivered via direct injection. S PIN M E R IG H T R O U N D To make 90 more ponies than the standard Hurricane, the high-output version drops the compression ratio from 10.4:1 to 9.5:1 and bumps up boost. It also gets forged aluminum pistons, and the crankshaft and connecting rods are forged steel. Redline is 6100 rpm (well short of BMW’s 7200-rpm song). The standard-output version gets by with cast-aluminum pistons and an agriculturalgrade 5800-rpm limiter. S TAY C O O L Each Hurricane variant has its own water-to-air intercooler. The highoutput engine’s is larger and features dual inlets.

W IND S O F C H A NGE

PENTASTAR 3.6-LITER

HEMI 5.7-LITER

HEMI 6.4-LITER

220

305 235 271 power range, hp torque range, lb-ft

363 395 394 410

410

485 429 475

HURRICANE 3.0-LITER

420 510 468 500