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Guts & Glory: Ten Best Engine Awards

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.

BMW 3L I-6, 4L V-8

BMW AG embellishes its reputation as a maker of some of the world's finest engines by returning two winners to the 1996 Best Engines competition.

At 282 hp, BMW's muscular 4L DOHC V-8 produces more than 70 hp/L, causing it to hold the highest specific output of any V-8 among this year's Ten Best. Last year, BMW engineers claimed the DOHC V-8 had the potential for considerable ongoing development, and they are true to their word. Later this year, BMW will release a larger, 4.5L engine for an all-new 5-Series that supplants the current 4L V-8.

BMW won't say how much more power the U.S.-specification version of the 4.5L engine will produce. A company insider, however, says that horsepower will not be dramatically increased, but peak torque will be much improved and develop over a wide rpm range. That would seem to answer our only true criticism of the otherwise potent 4L engine: a somewhat heavy flywheel effect that causes the engine to lag at low rpm.

"Quite a package," an editor noted of our BMW 540i Sport test vehicle, which mated a quick-acting 6-speed manual transmission to the 4L engine. BMW's smallish V-8 pulls impressively when the tachometer numbers get large, emitting a pleasing snarl-growl that is the hallmark of a BMW engine when the throttles open wide. No need to worry about putting all that seamless power through the rear wheels, either: the full-speed traction control system is a no-nonsense watchdog over how much power to deliver under any traction conditions.

Also back for its second Best Engines award is BMW's outstanding 3L inline 6-cyl. A glance at the steep power curve for this 240-hp speed-generator shows classic multivalve, DOHC tuning -- power increases in direct, almost linear progression with engine revolutions. Note the extremely flat torque curve, somewhat atypical of a multivalve engine. The expansive dose of usable torque comes from BMW's Variocam variable valve-timing system.

Although this inline engine definitely likes the revs, the Variocam arrangement keeps the overall power delivery from being race car-engine "peaky." And just like BMW's 4L V-8, the inline engine doles out lovely noises at any rpm. Add 0-60 mph (0-97 km/h) acceleration of under 6 seconds and one understands why this engine -- the heart of the M3 package -- delights enthusiasts the world over.

"The smoothest-transitioning variable valve timing system of any VVT engine," says one editor, echoing how much every tester was impressed with this engine's brilliant mix of performance, fuel economy and gem-quality NVH levels. "The only drawback," the M3's logbook asserts, "is this car's rising price."

Those enthralled with the M3 may get more for their money this spring when the Bavarians launch a yet more powerful, 3.2L version of the M3's inline 6-cyl. for the 1997 M3. The U.S., says a BMW insider, won't get the 315 hp the Euro-spec 3.2L delivers, but the power output reportedly will take a healthy jump over the 3L's already stout 240 hp. We're checking on the condition of our driver's licenses already.

by Bill Visnic
Ward's Auto World
January 1, 1996
courtesy WardsAuto.com