Which is the best engine?

[snattrass 0]

VR6 seems to be a relatively weak and not robust engine.

 

1.8 16v engine seems a stronger unit - more resilient.

 

Not sure about the 2 litre versions except that ive read that the 8v is the most reliable engine.

 

Which is the better engine for performance, resilience and longevity between the 16v 1.8 and 2 litre? Is the 2 litre 5 cylinder that used to be in the Santana?

 

Of course i fully realise that it comes down to individual cars but i'm talking generally here. Just seems to be alot more talk of rebuilds top and bottom etc on VR's than KR's thats all!

 

Cheers. Si

[vwdeviant 0]

"Help my worms are escaping from the can!"

 

 

:lol:

 

9a 16v for me!

[Critical_Mass 10]

Aye, discussed loads of times. Well G60 vs VR at least.

[Critical_Mass 10]

Aye, discussed loads of times. Well G60 vs VR at least. It comes down to personal preference in the end.

[Toad 0]

VR6 seems to be a relatively weak and not robust engine.

 

1.8 16v engine seems a stronger unit - more resilient.

 

Not sure about the 2 litre versions except that ive read that the 8v is the most reliable engine.

 

Which is the better engine for performance, resilience and longevity between the 16v 1.8 and 2 litre? Is the 2 litre 5 cylinder that used to be in the Santana?

 

Of course i fully realise that it comes down to individual cars but i'm talking generally here. Just seems to be alot more talk of rebuilds top and bottom etc on VR's than KR's thats all!

 

Cheers. Si

 

The VR6 is a good engine and takes a lot of abuse, seems to get a bad name for some reason. It's a big capacity engine in a small space. They'll do 150k without much work, chains and tensioners are focused on probably slightly unfairly.

 

The 4 cylinder engines are very good and will see hundreds of thousands of miles without much attention.

 

The 2l 16v is pretty much a bored out 1.8 block, with a few alterations.

 

All of the engines will suffer from oil ingestion when the stem seals and valve guides go, and therefore typically need top end rebuilds.

 

This is all dependant on how the engines are treated, what sort of oil etc and to an extent, luck...

[Kevin Bacon 5]

The VR6 is actually a VERY strong engine. There aren't many naturally aspriated engines out there that can comfortably triple it's factory output with NO internal mods what so ever.

 

What the VR6 doesn't tolerate is abuse through lack of maintenance. All the VR6s I see with worn ovalised bores on 1 and 6 have had little or no coolant additive and allowed to over heat frequently. Since the outer most cylinders are the hottest running ones, it can only take over heating for so long before a piston ring nicks the bore.

 

The VR's chains do get a lot of press on here, but if people priced up a chain job on a Jag XJR V8 or an M5 or M3, they'd be stunned.....and they all fail in the same way too, although the Jag eventually got a steel tensioner pad.

 

As Toady mentioned, all the engines have weak valve guides that need doing ~100K on average, but the benefit over the long term is the guides wear rather than the valves, so can be reused.

[dinkus 10]

Mine is the best engine. More than willing to sell it complete with the rest of the VR Corrado it's attached to for a reasonable fee. I've got 2 :lol:

[Toad 0]

The VR's chains do get a lot of press on here, but if people priced up a chain job on a Jag XJR V8 or an M5 or M3, they'd be stunned.....and they all fail in the same way too, although the Jag eventually got a steel tensioner pad.

 

Indeed, that's a good point.

 

Meant to mention how easily the VR takes FI too. Can't you throw 8psi at it without needing a spacer?

[mic_VR 3]

Don't know about best, but my fav engine in the Ford Hemi 427 SOHC V8 engine. Made famous in the 1960 for being immensly powerful even without modifications (something like 650bhp straight from the factory), and in various sizes powering the Shelby Cobra and Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

 

Mmm V8 rumble!

[The_Dude 0]

 

Meant to mention how easily the VR takes FI too. Can't you throw 8psi at it without needing a spacer?

 

Certainly can. Otherwise my engine would be on the side of a road somewhere in many many pieces.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

I ran 12psi on my stock engine with no problems. Running 100% E85, I'm confident you could run 20psi on the stock motor. The VR seems like it is was made for boost :D

 

Don't know about best, but my fav engine in the Ford Hemi 427 SOHC V8 engine. Made famous in the 1960 for being immensly powerful even without modifications (something like 650bhp straight from the factory), and in various sizes powering the Shelby Cobra and Aston Martin V8 Vantage.

 

Mmm V8 rumble!

 

LOL, this is a thread about VR6, 16V and 8V engines, not engines in general :lol:

 

Agreed though. Yank V8s are also my favourite engine type, but I prefer the Chevy LS2. It's not especially powerful as standard, but it is incredibly smooth and bomb proof. Cams, head work, headers and mapping will see 685hp though.

Sounds sooooooo much better than the hollow, raspy, gutless sounding Ferrari flatplane cranked V8s.....

 

And whilst on the subject, a road spec Corvette with Leaf springs and an ancient pushrod V8 beat the Nissan GTR round the ring by 3 seconds. Who says technology has the answer for everything? :wink:

[12 DEG BEN 0]

My choice would have to be the rolls royce that makes the spitfire into perfection. Would 2 vr6 engines with no exhaust sound something like it!!

[mic_VR 3]

LOL, this is a thread about VR6, 16V and 8V engines, not engines in general :lol:

 

Agreed though. Yank V8s are also my favourite engine type, but I prefer the Chevy LS2. It's not especially powerful as standard, but it is incredibly smooth and bomb proof. Cams, head work, headers and mapping will see 685hp though.

Sounds sooooooo much better than the hollow, raspy, gutless sounding Ferrari flatplane cranked V8s.....

 

And whilst on the subject, a road spec Corvette with Leaf springs and an ancient pushrod V8 beat the Nissan GTR round the ring by 3 seconds. Who says technology has the answer for everything? :wink:

 

Yeah but I thought I'd spice it up a bit. Its not like this subject hasn't been covered once or twice.... :wink:

 

What about the 24v? :shrug:

[snattrass 0]

It just seems that when weighing up which of the models to buy, purely from a cost of ownership point of view, there would appear to be a greater risk, generally speaking, because of the more vulnerable engine, of incurring higher costs, more frequently, with the VR6 than would be the case with the other Corrado models!

[colinstubbs 0]

The 1.8 16v has less sensors and stuff to go wrong but boosting output is tricky, due to the, more reliable, mechanical injection system!!!

[mic_VR 3]

It just seems that when weighing up which of the models to buy, purely from a cost of ownership point of view, there would appear to be a greater risk, generally speaking, because of the more vulnerable engine, of incurring higher costs, more frequently, with the VR6 than would be the case with the other Corrado models!

 

Personally, my opinion only (so please don't flame me :lol: ), I think that is not the way to look at it. VR6's are expensive to fix, but I wouldn't say it was any worse than any of the other models. Get a good one, keep up the maintenance etc, and it'll run forever.

 

The thing with the VR is that it is a very accomplished machine, and some have been driven at the limit without having care taken of them. Mine has now done 135,000 miles and when I took it apart recently it has slightly stretched chains, had a broken guide, dodgy tensioner, and noisey tappets...... but it was still pulling 195bhp and 185 lb/ft at the last rolling road day.

 

But I spend money taking care of it, and most of the expensive stuff I've done is out of choice rather than need.

 

I've also seen four pots that have had a small fortune spent on them and they still don't run quite right.

 

If you're worried about having a car that'll run day in day out and you don't need to worry about it, buy a Kia Cee'd with a nice 7 year warranty :wink:

 

The 1.8 16v has less sensors and stuff to go wrong but boosting output is tricky, due to the, more reliable, mechanical injection system!!!

 

Ha! Rubbish. I've never heard of a VR breaking down due to the injection system.

[boost monkey 0]

K-Jet can be made to fuel correctly up to 200hp. There are a bunch of people on CGTI who have tuned them :salute: not sure how easy it is though.

 

Kev, is E85 some magic go juice? Should I know about it? Should I be friends with it? :nuts:

[snattrass 0]

If you're worried about having a car that'll run day in day out and you don't need to worry about it, buy a Kia Cee'd with a nice 7 year warranty

 

 

Now now dont be silly billy! Tell me your not seriously suggesting a corrado is beyond consideration for anyone who has such unrealistically elevated expectations so much so that they are "worried about having a car that'll run day in day out "!

 

 

:)

 

 

There's a world of difference between that extreme and paying 2k or more for a vr and then wondering whether u might have to pay some 4 figure amount, i dont know - maybe the purchase price or more again, to recondition a oil hungry unit!

[mic_VR 3]

Kev, is E85 some magic go juice? Should I know about it? Should I be friends with it? :nuts:

 

Funny man!

 

 

Now now dont be silly billy!

 

:)

 

Sorry :( I take it back.... I didn't think before I typed.... :lol:

[KADVR6 0]

R32, i hope :lol:

[snattrass 0]

snattrass wrote:

 

Now now dont be silly billy!

 

:)

 

 

 

Sorry :( I take it back.... I didn't think before I typed.... :lol:

 

 

Seriously though, I know nothing about these matters compared with you guys. I'm just learning after owning a 16v for nearly 10 years and now a VR. As a person not employed due to my ME/CFS illness, I have limited funds but also at the same time insist on, at least, enjoying my motoring and of course taking a pride in my rado. So in this situation I'm afraid it's just a case of trying to walk the tight rope of spending enough money on keeping it upto scratch and enjoying it but not having to go over the top expensewise on a limited budget! I appreciate it all comes down to the specific car but this is where the other models seem potentially to have a more limited risk of outlay than the VR.

[mic_VR 3]

R32, i hope :lol:

 

Bang on Karl, buy a decent VR for about £2500 and whack a low mile 24v in it...... now that sounds like a plan I could entertain! :wink:

[Toad 0]

R32, i hope :lol:

 

Bang on Karl, buy a decent VR for about £2500 and whack a low mile 24v in it...... now that sounds like a plan I could entertain! :wink:

 

:)

[Jim Bowen 1]

the engine on my vr6 is one of the only things that hasn't gone wrong in 170,000miles, all thats been done is its been serviced :lol:

[skinnyman9000 0]

My choice would have to be the rolls royce that makes the spitfire into perfection. Would 2 vr6 engines with no exhaust sound something like it!!

 

The merlin engine

 

I work at Rolls Royce, their improvement plan for those engines was rather ingenious and is what made them so reliable. They basically took an engine off the production line, ran it at full power until something broke, and then whatever broke was strengthened and improved and inserted into the production line. Then they would take another engine and do the same. This was done over and over