The Engines You Have Owned, Best And Worst

[Urban Sports]

I was just thinking about the cars I have owned and the relative diversity of the engines they have had.

My best:

The straight six in my E90 it's really smooth refined and sounds superb if a bit thirsty.

The complete opposite of this is the F20 in both of my S2000's, noisy but absolutely manic when revved with the 9000 red line, hard work at times but fun when it mattered.

Enjoy / enjoyed both in equal measure.

Worst:

Astra MK5 1.6, souless, weak, boomy and the soundtrack of a bosch drill. Economical though!

[anonymous-user]

Best: current Lexus IS-F 5L V8 for the noise, or the Toyota (ne Yamaha) 1600 from my old Corolla GT 16 for its revability back in the 80s

Worst: Ford 1.3CVH. Don't even ask.

[LuS1fer]

Standout engines for me have been the flat four in a Honda Gold Wing, a different flat four in an Alfasud 1200Ti (they lost that perfection in the bigger-engined variants) and the V8s in the Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs I've owned. For character, the 48hp 1098cc A-series engine in my first A40 took some beating. I would finally add the 1.8 8v GTI engine in my old 1984 Scirocco GTI Mk II which, for the time, was a revelation.

[anonymous-user]

Best, the 3L V6 in my 220, sounds great and revs so much better than the 2.5 version.

Worst, the 1.6 in my first car-a Maestro, don't even ask............

[MGZRod]

1.4 K Series, HGF weekend bought. Worst


1.4 K series, faultless. Best.


Am I doing it right?

[corradoG60]

The supercharged 1.8 8v in my corrado is the best, mainly for the charger whistle
worst was the 1.6 16v in my mk4 astra, was a nice engine, but its the only other car iv owned

[deadalfa]

Alfa Twin Spark and moderately tuned Ford Kent take some beating for character and sound. Audi five pot was glorious sounding too.

Vauxhall 1.6 Ecotec was pretty dreary; no sense of power building regardless of the revs, no soundtrack, no character at all really.

[Huntsman]

BMW M20 has been very good.

Ford Zetec was rubbish, noisey and thirsty for oil.

Porsche 911 3.2 was very good, did huge miles without fuss.

Healey 100M was rubbish, ran a big end and head always leaked water.

[Stonebridge]

worst
the 2000cc Ford V4 engine (found in for example the Ford Corsair from many years ago)

best
too many to choose from but I have always loved the venerable Rover V8 in its many guises from the original 3.5 liter upwards

[FreeLitres]

Best: 5 Litre Rover V8 in my Chimaera! Noise and huge torque!
(3.0 V6 in the X-Type is nice and I quite liked the 140PS 2.0 TDi in the Golf for covering big miles)

Worst: 1.8 TDi in a Ford Focus Estate company car. Noisy horrible thing!

[Blue Meanie]

The 1.6 in my MK3 astra was abysmal.
Favourite engines have to be the 3S-GTE in the tubby, or the VQ35 in the G35.

[redstu]

Best - 2.5 v6 in my 156.

Worst - 2.0 16v in my dolomite sprint , due to it's overheating problems.

[jbi]

BEST



4.0 1UZ-FE V8 in my Toyota Celsior

The best engine in the world when it debuted back in the late 80's/early 90's

So good in fact that BMW used it as the template for their 4.0 destined for the M3

WORST



3.8 Essex V6 in my ford cougar was way underpowered at 140hp to move the cougars 3800lb heft

Edited by jbi on Thursday 16th September 21:25

[survivalist]

Best:

2.5 Straight 6 in my E90 - Nice when revved
3.2 S54 in the Z4M - Nice all the time, especially when revved
2.5 Straight 6 in E30 - Lovely "mechanical" noise over 4k rpm
1.6 Twincam four in a (1995) Mitsubishi Colt - Good over 4k as well

Worst

1.8 four in a Seat Toledo - most boring noise at any revs
1.0 four in Nissan Micra - actually got worse the higher it revved
2.0 diesel four in E46 BMW 320d - Sounded like a Taxi but went OK once over 60mph
1.9/2.0 four in a E46 BMW 316i - Made the Micra/Seat feel fast, sounded rough


On the "want" list are a nice V8 and a highly strung 4 (thinking Caterham R300/400/500)

[crmcatee]

Best - Current Chevy 6.3 V8 that's in the Cobra.

Worst - Ford 1.6 we had an a Sierra for a very short period. As gutless as a gutless thing.

[OllieWinchester]

Good ones I've had - M20B25 - E30 325i Sport. Sounded sublime with a sports exhaust, silky smooth, decent power for the time.

Rover V8 - 3.9 in a Range Rover classic, torquey, smooth, loads of power of road, unfortunately liked a drink (And the rest of the car dissolved around it.)

2.0 litre VTEC - Civic Type R - seems to polarise opinion but I loved it, real Jekyll and Hyde nature.

Worst one - 1.3 Endura in various Fords, tappety, weak, boat anchor of a thing.

[eldar]

One horrible one, a Sierra 2.3 diesel (Peugeot XD2 engine). A huge, heavy diesel with no power, rattled like skeletons shagging in a steel bucket, and shook your teeth out.

Great if you like being out dragged by nuns on bicycles at the traffic lights grand prix.

[RichB]

What only one shout for Alfa Romeo

Best:-

TVR 5.0 V8 (yes I know Rover/Buick etc.) but a great engine and still makes my spine tingle
Alfa Romeo 3.0 V6 in my Alfa 164 Lusso - music to my ears
And...
Volvo 4.2 V8 belive it or not and I believe the design was shared with Yamaha?

Worst:- an Audi 2.0 4 x cylinder turbo diesel I had - total rubbish.

[RobM77]

I'm not sure I've got a worst engine, but these stand out:

BMW N52 Straight six. It's 3 litres in capacity producing 265bhp and 232lb-ft of torque, yet can do 45mpg at a steady 60mph on the motorway. It sounds absolutely fantastic, and once you've got beyond the customary throttle delay, is beautifully responsive and driveable. The torque delivery is just so creamy and smooth. Absolutely fantastic engine.

Toyota MR2 mk1 engine. A little gem of an engine this one. Loved to rev, sounded great and was attached to a fantastic gearbox.

Rover K series VVC. I've had two of these: one in a Caterham and one in my present Elise. Very light, astonishingly flat torque curve and very economical. I've never understood people who criticise the k series; it's a great engine.

[ex vtskid]

Ka Endura - Don't mind it for the car actually, only thing is the thing hates being revved.
Impreza EJ20 - Brilliant sound, very thirsty for a 2L though
VTS 16V - Unreliable but had a decent growl to it for an I4, quite a nice combo of torque (probably also the lightness of the car) but also there was a point to revving it
Escort 1.8 Zetec - Really good engine I thought, good mix of fuel economy, reliability and power. Sounded wet though
Fiesta HCS 1.1 - Horrible, which is surprising as it's basically the same as the Ka engine.