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He did the same thing with a BMW car before that. He's never paid much more then $5,000 for a car. Probably helps he's an engineer and is fairly handy, but from what I can gather just minor repairs on both vehicles and routine oil changes and maintenance seems to be the key.
His big premise is that most vehicles are a heck of lot more advanced then the generation before them and generally better. For instance the Ranger has nearly all the same technology or better than his 80's vintage BMW had.
The Duratec is a dependaple engine, and if the vehicle is loaded, i.e. 2 persons or more, the engine feels very smooth.
What I am saying is that Ford engines are probably designed to be smooth revving under load. Under light loads, it is not damped well enough. That said, I have driven the Toyota 3.0L (in a ES300, RX300) and also the 2.5L on the IS250. The 3.0L is smooth, but it is also very detached from the driver. So much so that I could not even hear the belt screeching while seated inside the car. I was lucky my nephew who was standing outside told me to come out with the engine running to ear the sound. What does that mean? It means that the toyota engines are not necessarily more smoother. It is "felt" smoother due to the lack of any sound/vibration transmission to the driver. :sick:
should read "dependable". sorry about that.
No, it IS smoother and that is why the sound/vibration isn't carried through the driveline. We could have this argument all day, but as far as NVH goes the 2 GR and the VQ are at the top of the class. The old Yota 3.0 wasn't too bad either.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
It's kind of like comparing fan bases for USC,LSU, Florida, Nebraska, and Texas. Okay one polling service says Texas fans are the "best" while another says something else. In reality they're all good, and that's the way I view most engines.
the Duratec is the basic unit for the engine in the Aston Martin V12 Vanquish. Read any article ever written abou that car and you'll see it has been named one of the best supercar engines ever. Powerful as hell, and with a sound almost nothing else can touch. Yes, it is based on the same engine in the Taurus, but when Aston smacked 2 of them together and did its own tweaks, it goes from sedan to supercar engine just that quickly.
van
exactly the point I was trying to make. Some folks have a bad vibe (pun intended) about the Duratec 3.0 as tested on the Taurus. But that same engines is used in the Mazda6, the Jag, etc and each ones is so different. The V6 in the Mazda6 has the same block but everything else is different and revs very smoothly. I will agree that Honda engines are smoother but not so much that you will regret owning the Mazda6 Duratec v6.
you must be referring to the old 5-speed automatic transmission. That was sluggish.
i think ther Duratec was originally designed by Porsche, believe it or not, back in the 90s when Porsche contemplated more front/mid engine cars. Ford bought it, took a lot of those costly things that made it an engine something good enough for a Porsche out of it and we got what we got. Sure it is possible that even the Vanquish might start with this base block[s]/geomotries, but the thought of any AM (or Porsche) engine even being any near as rough or noisy as what would conceivably go into those cars must mean that you think that just because the DT has the same number of valves as a toyota 2GR, and the same number of cylinders, and (on the surface of it) something called 'VVT'(which is quite a bit LESS in Ford guise than it is in Toyota's version), that is is the same. The Ford version of this engine is nowhere as sophisticated (or efficient and refined) as those engines of the same size by other mfgrs. - I simply can't imagine anybody not feeling and hearing the difference after only one simple 'run-up' thru the gears.
You can have your 6 speed gadget. You can also have a $4000 repair bill versus my $1800.
Yes, for the "stripper" model, if you can find a sales consultant to even approach you.
that and the bore/stroke ratio, materials used in the piston rod, crankshaft, balancing shafts, dampers, valves.
Moral - just get a V8 and ignore the V6s.
First, that engine has never been mated to the large FWD chassis produced in Hamtramck where the Lucerne, Bonnevilles, and Cadillac DTS are made - the V8 Northstar and the 3800 being the engines for which tooling exists at that plant. There would be a cost involved to retool for the 3.6.
Secondly, and probably more important, the 3.6 production capacity is probably not large enough. That engine is in the Aura, Lacrosse, STS, CTS, and all versions of the new, hotselling, large crossover SUVs: Buick Enclave, Saturn Outlook, and GMC Acadia. Chevrolet will introduce their own version of that CUV next year with expected high sales volumes.
I suspect you've not driven the car with the 3800, have you. Not by the description you give. I'd suggest a test drive in one.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
Although Buick's product line is very very thin these days, you still would think that its flagship sedan deserves better (like the 3.6 HF V6).
It is interesting to note that the first Buick to be received favorably in many many years by both the auomotive press and John Q Public is a 5000lb. car based SUV (Enclave) with horror of horrors that 3.6L DOHC engine and a 6 speed auto tranny. Imagine a Buick that doesn't have to be discounted 20% (or more) 'find' buyers - horror of horrors again, Buick might just be able to MAKE some green on the Enclave. A novel concept for them - to be sure, and an even more unusual thing for those buyers to sink their teeth into - the first Buick in 50 years that might reasonably be expected to hold its value. . Even Buick seems to be able to read the handwriting on the wall....
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
I recall this being discussed somewhere before. I also suspect the readiness to downshift or unlock TCC is a learned characteristic of the transmission depending on the driver's pattern of accelerator demand; hence lots of people testing a car may teach the transmission to be quick to unlock and downshift. I'll have to test drive a LaCrosse with the 3.6.
One must remember the target buyer and owner of large sedans is people who drive more like myself than people who drive it as a sports car.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Any engine these days is reliable, big deal.
The 3.8L Series II was a leaker and it took 8+ years for GM to figure it out and come out with a Series III (no composite intake manifold).
Transmission reliability and electrical problems are the biggest problem with newer cars.
****
Actually, if you go back a LONG way, I have always been wishing they would drop the 3800 entirely and only offer the V8. GM needs to learn to take risks and put only their best foot forward. The 3800 was and is a decision to satisfy rental fleets. They put a budget interior and a budget engine in it in a misbegotten attempt to compete with the full size competition. Not that they can't compete, but GM could toss its entire rental fleet sales and hardly notice it it makes so little money to supply them.
The 3.6 would be a nice car, too - and again, they should only offer than in the LaCrosse. 3800? Toss that in a Pontiac, which has become GM's rental badge with a couple of exceptions.
Why would you?? Its basically the same powertrain. I remember the same behavior from my 98 Olds 88. I live in southern NJ (near Philly) and its fairly flat, it would have to be worse in other parts of the country.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
They are actually doing the opposite and making the V8 available only in the pricey CXS. You are right that would hurt fleet sales but also average FE standards too.
"Toss that in a Pontiac, which has become GM's rental badge with a couple of exceptions"
GM should just dump Pontiac and focus on Caddy Buick and Chevy.
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
We've been down this topic before and whatever I say you'll respond differently, so I won't respond. Feel free to email. We disagree.
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve
2023 Mercedes EQE 350 4Matic / 2022 Ram 1500 Bighorn, Built to Serve