The 2.2 has an undersquare bore and stroke, which gives it a displacement of . It is a "siamesed" engine: there are no coolant passages between cylinders. The bore spacing is , limiting the potential for increased bore diameter. All 2.2 engines have cast iron blocks, use a timing belt, and are non-interference engines. The earliest version used a two-barrel carburetor, but fuel injection was introduced in 1984 on both turbocharged and normally aspirated models (it is used on all 2.5 liter engines). The fuel injection was standard on some higher end (Chrysler E-Class/Chrysler New Yorker/Dodge 600 and the Dodge Daytona/Chrysler Laser). In 1985 it became optional on the lower end models (Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon, Dodge Aries/Plymouth Reliant), eventually replacing the carbureted variant on all the models.