On the money
and highly prophectic
Of course time marches on .....maybe ahem , a little rewrite is in order .............
Guts & glory: ten best engine awards
Visnic, Bill
Ward's AutoWorld, Jan 1, 1996 12:00 PM
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...........................It isn't until one starts comparing engines that similarities emerge. Similarity -- following what the other guy does -- is both the foundation and the folly of the automobile business.
There's an internal combustion engine in every wheeled passenger vehicle sold by the world's volume automakers. Some automakers produce expensive vehicles, so one expects the parts that make them run to be equally extravagant. For automakers who produce everyday vehicles, the trick to the trade is offering something more than the customer expects, something beyond what the
purely crass business equation says must be provided.
Better, then, to follow someone else's lead. Let them establish the ground rules and take the initial chances, then you play the game. Do it like that and you'll probably survive, but you're not likely to do anything special.
It's that way with engines. The most
expensive collection of components in every vehicle, the engine likewise is the part with which the customer most "interacts." Get it
right and the ever-demanding customer is satisfied; make it special and he's hooked for life.
That is what Ward's Best Engines awards are all about. Singling out automakers who
craft engines (remember, the part the buyer most interacts with) that are special. Engines that deliver more than they perhaps really must. Engines that are
symbolic of the
automaker's devotion to fine engineering and quality manufacture.
For 1996, six Ward's editors nominated 29 different engines for the 1996 Best Engines Award. After judging them all against one another, the following are our Ten Best Engines of 1996................................................................................................................................................................................
Now consider all that and these two automakers , their circumstances at the time and what we know today .
This also partialy explains why " toyotatittes " must be contained and removed .
Nissan 3L V-6
"An important benchmark," quotes the logbook for Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.'s silken "VQ" 3L DOHC V-6. "The fact that this engine achieves what it does without variable valve timing, turbos or other `tricks' is crucial -- and makes the VQ very special."
The VQ's straightforward design -- reflecting a philosophy at Nissan to simplify componentry -- sees a 10% parts reduction over the iron-block 3L V-6 the VQ range replaces, with weight savings of more than 100 lbs. (45 kg). Similar weight reductions in the reciprocating masses and valvetrain also impart the 3L VQ with its whispering NVH levels. The same reductions are the primary contributors to this engine's almost eerie rev-happiness. Want to scream along in third gear at 80 mph (128 km/h) and 6,000 rpm? No problem -- the driver's hard-pressed to notice the difference between that 6,000 rpm and cruising in fifth gear at 2,000 rpm.
Nissan's intensely automated Iwaki assembly plant takes molten aluminum at one end and pops three versions of the VQ out the other. In between, the blocks are deburred by robots, the crankshafts are microfinished by robots and groups of two dozen engines ride a gleaming merry-go-round bench tester, simultaneously tested by robots. A full 70% of the entire VQ engine-making process is automated.
Such is the intense thought Nissan places in the VQ build process. Similar effort went into the VQ range's design and engineering -- and that's what makes the 3L VQ the best normally aspirated V-6 on the planet........................
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Toyota 3L V-6
A freshman to the Ward's Best Engines list, Toyota Motor Co. Ltd.'s 3L DOHC V-6 is a mainstay of the Toyota line. Standard equipment in the Avalon and Lexus ES300, the 1MZ-FE is optional in the Camry.
Some testers reckon Toyota's DOHC V-6 is the "gold standard"
(good thing no one named ) of the affordable sedan market. It's not too flashy in its specification or technology; no, the 3L V-6 is simply a finely honed example of current mainstream multivalve-engine development. Like so much of what Toyota does, there's a quiet, competent subtlety to this engine, a powerplant that delivers everything required yet often remains in the background.
Not flashy, maybe, but Toyota didn't hold back on the 3L V-6's basic engineering. There's a fancy direct-ignition system, a hot-wire mass airflow meter, reduced-friction reciprocating components and a structure-stiffening aluminum oil pan to augment the rigid aluminum cylinder block.
Toyota engineers pay special attention
to the combustion chamber and pistons, reducing the "squish" area between the top of the piston and the upper piston ring, a region where unburned hydrocarbons (HC) are known to roam. Combined with good-swirling intake air routed through upright intake runners, the design conspires to produce a very low emissions profile.
Admirable as that is, it was the 1MZ-FE's snappy throttle response and snarly midrange acceleration that won our testers' votes. This engine is so downright competent in just about every subjective measure that finding fault with it is an exercise in frustration. Factor in Toyota's earned reputation for Gibraltar-like reliability
and this volume-produced V-6 can stand with any 6-cyl. engine in the world ...............................................................................................................................................................................
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