Your top 5 worst engines.

Nasher said:
Not just the 1.4 for oil usage lol

Others are the previous gen Porsche engines with the bore scoring issues. Makes a great car in to a time bomb.
Click to expand...

I am pretty sure the 1.8 and 2.0 had oil use age problems as well. The Germans can make good diesel engines no doubt but reliable petrol ones can be left to the Japanese.
 
Nasher said:
The K series was just badly machined and put together by Rover.
Click to expand...

K series was actually a very good engine when properly made.

Personally I've not had the pleasure of much experience with actual bad engines. But I'm no fan of, no matter how reliable, etc. they might be, rinsed out 4 cylinder engines doing the job a V6 should be doing, etc. just something so wrong about it - you just don't have the same sense of occasion you get with a V6 in that role.
 
What ever piece of junk that they stick under the bonnet in the diesel version of those FIAT build Orange Jeeps you see in Italy.

It didn’t so much accelerate as gradually gain velocity. The only turbo diesel I’ve ever driven that had a narrow powerband like a ported Yamaha 2 stroke. It wouldn’t have been so bad if they’d put a decent gearbox in it. 6 gears that were simultaneously too low and too high in any situation with a gate that was sloppier than a 70 year old tart.
 
Rroff said:
K series was actually a very good engine when properly made.

Personally I've not had the pleasure of much experience with actual bad engines. But I'm no fan of, no matter how reliable, etc. they might be, rinsed out 4 cylinder engines doing the job a V6 should be doing, etc. just something so wrong about it - you just don't have the same sense of occasion you get with a V6 in that role.
Click to expand...

Emissions are the reason :/

Though a highly strung 4cyl turbo is probably worse in the real world. It's just easier to manipulate the test.
 
Nasher said:
Emissions are the reason :/

Though a highly strung 4cyl turbo is probably worse in the real world. It's just easier to manipulate the test.
Click to expand...

Yeah - shame they didn't find a way to make the V9X in my Navara better on the emissions/economy front - I want a newer pickup really but a pickup without a V6 (or V8 but I have no need for a V8) just seems wrong.
 
Rroff said:
Yeah - shame they didn't find a way to make the V9X in my Navara better on the emissions/economy front - I want a newer pickup really but a pickup without a V6 (or V8 but I have no need for a V8) just seems wrong.
Click to expand...

It's a commercial vehicle not a sports coupe, a 4 cylinder diesel suits it fine.
 
Both of the Wankel engines that went in the RX7 and then the RX8

The RX7 one was nothing more than a racing engine really that needs constant attention to keep it running, god they were fast but always owned by somebody who could strip it down and rebuild it monthly.

The RX8 one was a margin better but have you ever heard of a high mileage one (and we're talking over 70k) that hasn't had a rebuild of some kind.

I owned an RX8 and although it was massive fun revving high and handling fantastically it was a fickle beast, you had to start it the right and never start it to just move it on the drive as it would flood at a drop of your hat. I rarely got over 22mpg and it had a laughably small fuel tank so its range was not much more than 200miles. When you did go on the track it hosed fuel straight out the back. Loved it and in some respects the engine is amazing but for every day use, no! When I got mine they were still chucking in a free track dayand some of the stuff it would do was outstanding but long term you just couldn't keep it.
 
Best rx8 mod is an engine swap :D

It wasnt a good engine. It had the running costs of a v8 but nowhere near the grunt. With shocking reliability.

It would have been a classic if they put an MPS engine in it instead.
 
Last edited:
[TW]Fox said:
It's a commercial vehicle not a sports coupe, a 4 cylinder diesel suits it fine.
Click to expand...

It isn't just about 0-60 speeds and I don't know the technical reasons (probably band related) but the 4 cylinder ones just don't put the torque out like a decent V6 and in some situations that counts.

Nasher said:
Best rx8 mod is an engine swap :D

It wasnt a good engine. It had the running costs of a v8 but nowhere near the grunt. With shocking reliability.

It would have been a classic if they put an MPS engine in it instead.
Click to expand...

I don't know much about it but the MPS engines have some issues of their own - the reliability can be much improved with swapping out for some 3rd party parts apparently.
 
Rroff said:
It isn't just about 0-60 speeds and I don't know the technical reasons (probably band related) but the 4 cylinder ones just don't put the torque out like a decent V6 and in some situations that counts.
Click to expand...

The 2.0 4 pot in the latest Ford Ranger is excellent. My girlfriend's dad fills his / uses it to tow all manner of extremely heavy crap and it copes just fine.
 
Howard said:
The 2.0 4 pot in the latest Ford Ranger is excellent. My girlfriend's dad fills his / uses it to tow all manner of extremely heavy crap and it copes just fine.
Click to expand...

Some of the new 4 cylinder pickups they've worked magic with the engines for what they are to be fair but at the end of the day it isn't a V6. A few times there have been situations where I can just use the torque and go with a smug smile on my face while people in like Wildtraks are still messing about with profiles to get the best result.

EDIT: It is a bit frustrating at the moment actually as the smart money would be to trade my current Navara D40 in for a new pickup but for all the things that do annoy me about the vehicle I will miss that V6 way too much I don't want to do it and unfortunately for my uses I can't justify top end Amarok money.
 
Terminal_Boy said:
There just isn’t any substitute for having a bunch of torque at low rpm.
Click to expand...

I have no idea what the torque curve on say the 2.0 Ranger is but on mine I exceed peak torque on the 2.xL models at a hair over 1000 RPM, hit 550nm at just over 1500. But also when you are at motorway speeds, etc. it is so effortless - albeit the newer pickups tend to have much more refined ride on the road which offsets that a bit.
 
Mercedes Benz OM904 engine used in Vario and Atego without turbo. Gutless horrible things. 100 bhp engine in 7.5 tonne 'trucks' - drivers always complained, mechanics hated working on them.

Ford Iveco 75e14 4 cylinder - first time I worked on a truck that had less than 6 cylinders. It leaked oil, it vibrated so bad the starter motors used to fall out or the cables to the starter would come loose. Bell housings cracked so bad that the driver couldn't change gear as it would move when clutch was depressed. Oh and they were gutless to top it off.

Vauxhall Astra Mk2 1.2l OHV engine - Not particularly unreliable but gutless and running an old ignition system (contact points and condenser) it wasn't even nice to drive once tuned up, fell out of tune after a week or so of driving and would 'pink' up the slightest incline.

Leyland 'O' series 2.0l petrol - Alternative to the 2.5l 4 cylinder Diesel engine that Leyland were using in their 400 series Sherpa vans. Burnt more oil than the 2.5l used diesel, constantly fell out of tune, gutless and stunk the cab out giving drivers and passengers nausea and headaches, great engine!

Scania DC13 6cyl 540 - They're just pushing this lump too hard and long term prospects for reliability aren't great, although they seem to be addressing it with software updates, time will tell. The pile of turbos and intercoolers waiting to go back suggest otherwise.
 
Nasher said:
Best rx8 mod is an engine swap :D

It wasnt a good engine. It had the running costs of a v8 but nowhere near the grunt. With shocking reliability.

It would have been a classic if they put an MPS engine in it instead.
Click to expand...

When you think how much the GT86 gets praised. The RX8 essentially did the same thing a decade earlier. They are a second only car but I think they make an excellent proposition as a useable classic but just budget for an engine rebuild. Most rebuilds make around 230HP and rev to 9k in a balanced rwd chassis.

What isn't there to like. For all the engines flaws it is a very enjoyable one to use.
 
adam cool dude said:
When you think how much the GT86 gets praised. The RX8 essentially did the same thing a decade earlier. They are a second only car but I think they make an excellent proposition as a useable classic but just budget for an engine rebuild. Most rebuilds make around 230HP and rev to 9k in a balanced rwd chassis.

What isn't there to like. For all the engines flaws it is a very enjoyable one to use.
Click to expand...
Did they make more than one version that went into the RX8?

I remember racing one when I had a mk2 Golf. Let’s just say the owner of the the RX8 was not a happy chappy.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom