The Jaguar XK6 is forever the right answer. 40+ years in production and it’s longevity is no fluke. smooth, torque-y, reasonably reliable, and outperformed the competition for years to come after it debuted in 1949
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I have a soft spot for the AMC straight-6 engine.
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And pretty much the norm for naturally aspirated Diesels.
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Wait… DOHC in 1949?
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yeah, and not the first. Lagonda did it in 1948, and Bugatti and Alfa Romeo in the 1920’s/1930’s
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My top engines, based on miles derived, only receiving basic maintenance.
First. At my station in life, that’s all I can afford anyway.
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2000 Volvo V70 XC (B5244T) Turbo 5. We just had to scrap this. We bought it with 250k miles (400k km), and in 3 years, it was up to 380k miles. The engine was still fine; except the valve cover gasket was going, and oil was getting into the cylinder heads (would’ve been an easy enough fix, but parts are getting scarce for this car). The real problem was a convergence of small issues that ended costing more to fix than the car was worth (brakes, cv joint, fuel line)
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2004 Buick Century (LG8) V6. see also Kids! Man! (Farewell Buck). I bought this car with only 70k miles (impressive as it was 10 years old at the time), and drove it for approximately 180k miles longer (between myself, my niece, and my daughter). When we scrapped it, the engine was still running quite strong, as was the transmission. After an accident, and quite possibly a 2nd (still don’t know how she broke the strut), I had to get rid of it.
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It’s not actually a reliable engine per se, but the CVH I4 of 2nd gen North American Ford Escorts, were incredibly easy and cheap to fix. No repair ever costed more than $500 (blown clutch), with most repairs being $35 at a U-pull lot; or in one case (actually, it happened on all 3 that I owned) with a pcv hose, that oddly enough autozone doesn’t carry, $1.25 and a little creativity. All 3 got me to 200K miles. The 2 stick shifts averaged 30+ MPG delivering pizzas! The automatic, not so much.
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It was an ad catchphrase.
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Mercedes Benz diesel engines from mid 70’s to early 00’s Especially OM603 and OM606 3.0 straight sixes
While there was 2.0 inline fours that made measily 55hp up to the “high power” 174hp 3.0 Turbo mojority of these engines lasted easily 500.000km (310k miles) if they were reasnably well maintained during this time. and the really well maintained engnes pushed close to 1m km (621k miles) and some lasted beyond that before completely giving up, Usually the car was giving up other more or less minor problems before the engione gave up.
80’s and 90’s mercedeses were often used as taxis where I live, majority of them cloking over 700k km before being replaced, and my friend used to own one with full service history that had over 1.170.000 km driven before the engine was overhauled first time. I dont know is that car alive anymore, my last knowledge of it was when he sold it 1.400.000km driven. although by that point almost everything had been changed, only the original engine block and head remained. and that was back in 2009.
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My grandfather bought a 1971 220D in 1973, when it was retired in the late 90s, it had passed 1100 000 km…
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174 isn’t terrible for a 3.0 in the 80’s/90’s, especially for a diesel. Idk. Maybe I’m too used to American 7.0 V8 diesels with 300 HP and 1000 lb-ft of torque. (Not an exaggeration BTW)
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Assuming it hasn’t been mentioned already, I’ll voice my support for the Toyota 2GR V6. Fantastic engines, 3.5 liters, up to 300 horsepower, and with Toyota reliability. I’ve spent a lot of time driving a Sienna with the engine, and it’s an excellent piece of kit.
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