Why are so many V8s 4.2 liters?

[hayasa]

Other than our beloved cars such as the R/S4 and R8s, why are there so many other manufactures who use V8s have engines that are 4.2 liters? Jag, Mazerati, TVR, lots of trucks, hell even Mustangs had a 4.2 liter engine. Why is that? Something magical with 4.2?

[pyro]

a lot of other manufacturers use the 4.4 and 4.6 as well as others... they cant all be different.

[juju4uofa]

mustangs have a 4.6L unless there's a new engine I'm unaware of.

[hayasa]

mustangs have a 4.6L unless there's a new engine I'm unaware of.

Early 1980s Mustangs were 4.2 liter. Conspiracy?

[MYDWAGON]

Early 1980s Mustangs were 4.2 liter. Conspiracy?

122hp

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

4.8 is also popular

[bigbro]

4.5L I always thought had a conspiracy

[MacDaddy]

probably has more to do with manufacturers coping each other.

one company spends millions developing the perfect V8, experimenting with bore, stroke, V-angles and displacement and finally comes up with 4.2 L

then another manufacturer comes along and says "hey, lets just copy what they did and save millions on R&D" and they probably change it enough so that their no intellectual property infringement too.

[Slo.Mo.Shun.]

Now that I think about it, most V6 are in the 3 liter range, specially the 3.0l and 3.5l.

[TripleBlack]

Now that I think about it, most V6 are in the 3 liter range, specially the 3.0l and 3.5l.

Definitely agree. These two engines have been around for years. Even the older Maxima's (1995 and previous) had 3.0 before they went to the 3.5 in 2002.

[davis449]

Now that I think about it, most V6 are in the 3 liter range, specially the 3.0l and 3.5l.

This is a wide discussion covering much more than V8 engines.

2.8L V6
3.0L V6
2.0T 4 cyl.
3.2L V6

The list of these displacements across manufacturers is endless...