Quote:
Originally Posted by russv
Having owned 10 Hondas and 1 Acura I can attest to the smoothness of Honda 4 cylinder engines (balance shafts being irrelevant to the topic), but I'm not convinced the Subaru flat 4 is any smoother. My opinion.
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If you measure "smoothness" with your butt and your fingers it will be entirely subjective and any argument is pointless.
Subaru is known for being a bit rougher around the edges, they have stiffer motor mounts and less dampening in the cabins, Hondas are trying to toe the line between luxury and economy and as such have more damping.
The Honda will "feel" smoother, but what's actually happening in the engine is a lot of extra mass and development time get added to hide the vibrations that occur in the I4 engine arrangement, while boxer engines are dynamically in balance such that they don't need balance shafts or nearly as many tuned mass dampers.
You can say your Honda is "smoother", by most counts most people will agree with you. Saying your Honda I4 is "smoother" than any boxer engine is going to encourage lengthy heated arguments.