insanely bais example the 1.7 engine was built for economy and insanely low emisions lets look at a performance honda motor like say from an S2000

240hp / 2.0L
120HP per liter (Which btw is more power per liter than any other production car to date)

405hp / 5.7L
71hp per liter


But this is really comparing apples to oranges and has nothing to do with which is better or worse than the other I just wanted to make a more fair comparison