Gojirra99

By Bill Visnic

WardsAuto.com, Dec 5, 2006 3:13 PM


Here’s Ward's 10 Best Engines for 2007 at a glance (vehicle tested in parenthesis):

Audi AG 2L turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Audi A3)

BMW AG 3L DOHC I-6 (Z4 3.0si)

BMW AG 3L turbocharged DOHC I-6 (335i)

DaimlerChrysler AG 3L DOHC V-6 turbodiesel (Mercedes-Benz E320 Bluetec/Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD)

DaimlerChrysler AG Hemi 5.7L OHV V-8 (Chrysler 300C)

Ford Motor Co. Duratec 35 3.5L DOHC V-6 (Ford Edge/Lincoln MKX)

Ford Motor Co. 4.6L SOHC V-8 (Mustang GT/Mustang Shelby GT)

Mazda Motor Corp. 2.3L DISI turbocharged DOHC I-4 (Mazdaspeed3)

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. 3.5L DOHC V-6 (Infiniti G35)

Toyota Motor Corp. 3.5L DOHC V-6 (Lexus IS 350)

DETROIT – Three new powerplants join the list of Ward's 10 Best Engines winners for 2007, the 13th rendition of the annual competition that recognizes automotive powertrain excellence.

Making the cut for the first time:

Ford Motor Co.’s all-new Duratec 35, a 3.5L DOHC V-6 launching as the standard engine in some of Ford’s most critical new models for 2007, the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX cross/utility vehicles, as well as Lincoln’s MKZ sedan. The powerful and refined new V-6 generates 265 hp and 250 lb.-ft. (339 Nm) of torque.
BMW AG’s thrusty turbocharged variant of its hallowed inline 6-cyl. engine. The new 3L mill combines a sophisticated turbocharger with the company’s first application of direct-injection gasoline fueling for an inline 6-cyl. to produce 300 hp and 300 lb.-ft. (407 Nm) of torque.
DaimlerChrysler AG’s 3L DOHC V-6 turbodiesel, the only ’07-model light-duty diesel engine for sale in the U.S., is available in a trio of Mercedes-Benz models as well as the Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD. The powerful and frugal new diesel V-6 produces torque that far surpasses gasoline engines of similar size while providing 25% better fuel economy.

Equally important, in Mercedes’ E320 Bluetec, the high-tech 3L turbodiesel is coupled with the first phase of new exhaust-aftertreatment technology that soon will make diesels as low-emitting as today’s gasoline engines.
Meanwhile, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. continues a record-setting string of Ward's 10 Best Engines awards with the 13th consecutive win for its now-legendary VQ-Series DOHC V-6, the only engine to win an award every year since the competition’s inception in 1995.
For 2007, the heavily revised, fourth-generation 3.5L VQ boasts a V-8-challenging 306 hp and 268 lb.-ft. (363 Nm) of torque.
Toyota Motor Corp. scores its second consecutive 10 Best Engines win with its Lexus 3.5L DOHC V-6, a brilliantly refined design that employs a unique, combination direct- and port-injection fueling system that helps generate 306 hp and 277 lb.-ft. (376 Nm) of torque.

Ford Duratec 35 one of three new 10 Best Engines winners in 2007.
Two popularly priced and evocative V-8s return in 2007 for repeat wins. DC scores its fifth consecutive 10 Best Engines win with the ever-popular Hemi 5.7 OHV V-8, this year in 340 hp, 390 lb.-ft. (529 Nm) specification for the Chrysler 300C sedan.
Ford takes its third consecutive Best Engines award with the 4.6L SOHC V-8 powering the Ford Mustang GT. This new-generation version of the classic muscle-car V-8 continues to impress with its evocative exhaust symphony and, in addition to its standard 300-hp Mustang GT guise, a new, high-output variant that uses Ford Racing performance components to increase horsepower to 325.
Finally, a pair of powerful but efficient 4-cyl. engines claims 2007 10 Best Engines awards. Audi AG wins for the second consecutive year with its power-dense 2L turbocharged DOHC I-4 employing the company’s torque- and efficiency-enhancing FSI direct-injection gasoline fueling to produce 200 hp and 207 lb.-ft. (281 Nm) of torque.
And Mazda Motor Corp. returns to the 10 Best Engines list with its second consecutive award for its power-packed 2.3L turbocharged DOHC I-4, an integral part of one of the year’s best performance-car bargains, the Mazdaspeed3.
Developing 263 hp from just 2.3L displacement, the direct-injected Mazda 4-cyl. is one of the most power-dense engines available in the U.S. market.
Related Stories
Ward's 10 Best Engines 2006

This year, six Ward's editors nominated 33 different engines for the 10 Best Engines competition. Over a nearly 2-month period, the editors evaluated and scored each engine against all others in a number of objective and subjective parameters.
Each engine must be available in a regular-production, U.S.-specification model on sale no later than the first quarter of 2007 in a vehicle priced no more than $54,000, a price cap indexed to the average cost of a new vehicle.
The awards will be given at a banquet in Detroit during next month’s North American International Auto Show.

Threxx

So the engine in my A4 is on the list two years in a row (since it came out)...

I personally think it's a fun motor to beat on but am still not impressed with it overall - because it uses a turbo to produce the power that it does, it's probably going to require an expensive rebuild on the turbo after 100k miles + or -... that's a big con for me. And this motor is louder and rougher around the edges than any econo car 4-cylinder. My wife even comments it sounds like a diesel when it's cold and when I step on the gas while driving can even get so loud and brash it makes you have to raise your voice to continue your conversation...

So I wonder what their feelings were on it? Maybe they didn't notice the cons I've noticed, or maybe I just got a 'bad one'? Oh well.

mmarshall

No hybrids? .....................Interesting.

I can personally vouch, though for the Nissan / Infiniti 3.5L V6, Audi 2.0L Turbo 4, Dodge/Chrysler 5.7 Hemi V8, Ford 3.5L V6, Ford 4.6L V8, and Toyota/Lexus 3.5L V6. I have tried out recent versons of those engines, and they are all well-done, at least for normal street driving, except that the Ford 4.6L didn't have quite as much low-end torque as you would expect for an engine that size.....you have to put some revs ito it.

A major problem with the Audi 2.0L, though ( and, obviously, this is not the engine's fault ) is that Audi, stubbornly, will not sell the Quattro AWD with this engine and the equally superb DSG gearbox....you HAVE to buy the 3.2 L V6 to get the Quattro. Ridiculous. I asked the company about this and they, admittedly, could not come up with a good reason why not.....certainly nothing mechanically-related in the car itself. It's just their " policy ".

Threxx

The A3 2.0T does have the DSG gearbox as an available option, it doesn't have quattro, in the US, though... you have to step up to the A4 to have the option of quattro AWD with the 2.0T.

As I've heard that elsewhere in the world the A3 does have Quattro with the 2.0T, the only two reasons I can think why it may not be offered here is that their marketing research showed they needed some additional spec-sheet differentiation between the otherwise less expensive A3 2.0T and the A4 2.0T, or possibly some way to reward those paying the extra money for the 3.2. Or maybe they just felt that the only people who would buy quattro 2.0T A3s would be those who would just be buying quattro A4s or A3 3.2s, anyway, and thus they'd be adding complication to their US lineup only to end up cannibalizing the sales of their own slightly more profitable cars.

I doubt they had no reason for doing it - though I'm sure much of their customer support and sales staff has no idea why...

mavericck

Not true....You can get the 2.0T with the A4 Quattro and the S3 will have a more powerful version of the 2.0T with Quattro. But yes sadly you can only get the DSG option with with the A3 and the TT.

mavericck

The roughness and "dieseliness" you speak of is from the direct injection and I seriously doubt that you will have to rebuild the turbo on these new Audi engines, maybe the old 1.8T but not the new 2.0T. Audi has really improved quality wise.

KidPandJ

I was not really impressed with the Dodge/Chrysler 5.7L Hemi. I wonder what criterion they use to make the list. I think that the LS series V-8 motors from GM are better than the Dodge/Chrysler Hemi.

MrSilvia

I really can't understand how the SOHC 4.6L V8 in the Mustang GT made it on the list. 300 hp is far from impressive for an engine that size these days, and when was the last time ford overhauled that engine or developed a new one for the mustang GT?? It seems like ancient technology

ff_

Not sure what their criteria is. The Nissan 5.6 V8 is a better engine than the "Hemi" too.

What difference does it make how old the technology is? If an engine does a superior job of putting power to the pavement, isn't that what's important?

mmarshall

Yes, I know the U.S. market A3 has the DSG option ( I reviewed one a few months ago)....and was really impressed with that engine-transmission combination. But I was NOT impressed with the lack of the Quattro option WITH that drivetrain combo. It does not seem to be a hardware issue...you have noted, correctly, that that combo IS available in the A4. And that 2.0L turbo four, even with the DSG, unlike some other small fours, has plenty of power to handle the extra burden of AWD...that is one of the reasons it is on this Best Engines list. There simply is no practical reason for the marketing restriction....you again correctly note that it may be just a " image " matter between the A3 and A4.

"Image", BTW, and the marketing damage it does, is something I have written, complained, and b***ched about in CL threads over and over again, many times. It screws up the marketplace and distorts product offerings like no other single factor I have ever seen.....even the wild up-and-down swings of fuel prices don't have any more effect on designers.

DriftNsc3

umm they kinda overhauled it for the 05 GTs. before it was a 2v per cylinder and now its a 3v per cylinder, it jumped from 260whp to 300whp, kinda of a major difference to me.
For the record, I'm a Chevy guy. the LS6 should of been on that list.

mmarshall

The 4.6, unlike the competitor 5.7's from Chevy and Pontiac, is noted for high-RPM HP rather than low-RPM torque. Still, the 4.6's torque figure, like most American V8s, exceeds its own HP figure...320 to 300. It just comes at a higher RPM than with the 5.7s.....and of course the 5.7s have more ultimate power in both the HP and torque departments due to their almost whole extra liter of displacement.

And, when you say that the 4.6L is "ancient" technology, stop and consider for a moment the fact that Ford developed THAT engine to replace one that really WAS ancient technology...the 5.0L ( 302 c.i.) that dates back to my high-school days.
Though of course the 4.6L, in general, will not outrun the Chevy / Pontiac 5.7L on the dragstrip, it is, mechanically, a pretty good motor and has ( for a Ford engine ) a pretty good reliability record...hence its popularity with police and cab drivers.

TRDFantasy

Strange that the 4.6L 1UR-FSE V8 from the LS460 is not on this list. I was expecting this of all engines to make it. But nice to see the 2GR-FSE on it. And this time, none of the Audi 6 or 8s made it. Then again, this list doesn't mean a whole lot.

XeroK00L

From Ward's press release:

Ice350

iTrader: (1)

Nice for me to see the Nissan/Infiniti engine there.
Surprised to see Ford and Audi...on the other hand I believe both these manufacturers are involved in racing...they should know a thing or two about engine efficiency and technology.