Depends on the time frame you have in mind when you say "-on the way out." Long term, almost certainly. The handwriting is on the wall, an it's written in the laws of physics. Smaller displacement engines are winning the battle, because every cubic inch of that displacement has to be filled with fuel-air mixture, once all the lean burn and valving tricks are applied. After four decades of refinement in passenger cars (beginning in the 1970's in SAABs), the turbocharger has been proven a workable expedient to provide power on tap in small displacement four-cylinder engines that will provide equivalent performance to a six, but that power is only being paid for when passing or another demand situation, while the larger engine must burn more fuel by design.
So- the answer to the question is that current designs like the Subaru 2.5i and 3.6r probably aren't going anywhere until the end of the manufacturer's intended life cycle....but, yes, they are going, and will likely be replaced by a generation of smaller turbocharged engines.
To see the future in the U.S., I suggest you subscribe to Green Car Congress, a newsletter that covers automotive change worldwide. What's going on in Japan and Europe will almost inevitably come here as the cost of fuel relentlessly ratchets up side by side with the emissions regulations.
So- the answer to the question is that current designs like the Subaru 2.5i and 3.6r probably aren't going anywhere until the end of the manufacturer's intended life cycle....but, yes, they are going, and will likely be replaced by a generation of smaller turbocharged engines.
To see the future in the U.S., I suggest you subscribe to Green Car Congress, a newsletter that covers automotive change worldwide. What's going on in Japan and Europe will almost inevitably come here as the cost of fuel relentlessly ratchets up side by side with the emissions regulations.
