Re: Why Pretend?
I wish it was a Ford. The engine of this car is a disgrace but not for quality or reliability but for performance. A car like this with it's looks and sportscar image having a 3.2L engine with a miserly 215 hp and needing premium gas, and the relatively lousy gas mileage for its weight, is just wrong. And the stupid pretense to have two sparkplugs but only three valves on a SOHC engine rather having the extra valve, in place of the useless extra plug, and have the DOHC setup.
Don't talk to me about superchargers, the basic performance underpinings of this engine sucks, it's still a pig under those fancy clothes. To get more technical on the two plugs: The two sparkplugs might contribute to lesser performance (OK, but more reliability) because there are two(!) flamefronts during combustion, and where the two meet, there will be some cancellation of each other, hence reducing force and efficiency. Someone said airplane engines have two plugs; yes, that's true, but it's for reliability, not performance.
There are 3.0L naturally aspirated V6 DOHC with 225hp or (higher) engines, running on regular gas getting 30 mpg (or better) mileage with 5 sp. auto transmission in same but usually higher weight cars.
In sum, the car is sweet in every aspect, but this engine just doesn't belong there.