The warning signs started the minute the Audi S4 appeared on our doorstep. Judges would show up after a long lunch with illegal smiles, giggling like kindergartners. You know what I’m talking about: cubic-inch madness: Hundreds of lbs.-ft...
Three hundred horsepower. Three hundred pound-feet of torque. Thirty thousand dollars. That’s probably enough to summate 90% of the winning formula for Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Subaru 2.5L turbocharged DOHC H-4. The only engine...
Maybe I’m just a cheap date. Don’t get me wrong I love power. I love horsepower, especially when I can hear and feel it permeate the entire vehicle. Torque does it for me. But I have a prudent side. And it was soundly trampled on by my...
Imagine this year’s 10 Best Engines nominees on stage at the Met or Hollywood Bowl. A hush comes over the packed house as maestro Senior Technical Editor Bill Visnic picks up his baton and, with a majestic wave, ignition systems stir. What...
There’s probably no better measure of engine-development progress than a contemporary automotive V-6. When Ward's launched the 10 Best Engines competition a decade ago, V-6s were only beginning to account for a meaningful portion of sales in...
With DaimlerChrysler AG’s “Cummins 600” 5.9L turbodiesel earning a win in this year’s Ward's 10 Best Engines competition, it’s official: in each of the last three years, there’s been an all-new or significantly...
The first time Vortec 4200 chief engineer Ron Kociba showed his creation to the press almost three years ago, his face had an expression, if you can conjure the image, combining cat-that-ate-the-canary satisfaction with the cautious optimism of a...