Worst Engines Ever Made 

I worked at a Subaru dealership as an express advisor, we had a technician that would come out and talk to every single customer who had a turbo Subaru, especially people in the process of buying one. His job was to inform them that if they let the engine idle for 30 seconds to a minute after a drive so the turbos can cool down and change the oil every 2500 miles instead of every 5000 because turbochargers cook the oil that their engine would last much, much longer. We had a LOT less of those going bad, like guys could go hundreds of thousands of miles regularly.

There's a KIA Sorento with 600k miles that had the Theta II engine. The owner had a unlimited mile 10 year warranty. In the 600k miles, the Sorento went through 9 engines, 4 transmissions, 203 oil changes, and 20 transmission flushes. That basically means a new engine very 67k miles, new transmission every 150k miles, an oil change every 3000 miles, and a transmission fluid flush every 30k miles.

I have worked on Kraut Krap in the past...And That is,what it is! You need special tools. Everything is over designed and hard to get to. They are brutally made.

The main problem with many German engines is mentioned in the vid: the absurdly long oil change intervals. A close second being the obsession with saving weight and making all kinds of parts from plastic. Changing the oil and the oil filter on a much shorter interval doesn't fully solve a lot of the problems, but it will definitely help keep the engine running for a much longer time. Eventually the problems will show their ugly heads, but that will be much further along the road.

I use to work for Advance Auto Parts. I sold a lot of engine parts related to the engines mentioned on this video. When I mentioned the flaws with the customer's engine, I got the classic Pikachu face.

Had the Kia 2.4 One day, suddenly, it sounded like I’d dumped a load of .5” ball bearings into the motor. Voided the warranty because I did a couple of the oil changes myself. Dealt with them for a couple months & ended up paying 3500 for a new engine. I was reimbursed after the recalls. MF’n vultures.

When my daughter was little, we were out taking a walk around the block and she noticed a Yugo parked in a neighbor's driveway (they didn't own it). She looks at it and asks "Dad, is that a real car?" I hesitated before answering. Lol!

one American v6 you couldn't talk about here was the Buick 3800

Also, wife got a used Kia Optima... she had it a week and the motor started grating itself internally and was running so rich, it was literally rolling coal. Yes, we got our money back.

Former 2.0 '14 Forester XT owner here. I did oil changes every 3k, carefully warmed up the engine, amd let the turbo cool. Head gaskets went at 80k and again at 130k.

I'm definitely not a GM fan but one of the best engines I have ever owned was the 3.1 liter V6 in my 1989 Cutlass Supreme, and I'll never understand why. It was fast, reliable and very fuel efficient.

Things used to be designed to be reliable and last....the opposite is now true

As a former VW tech I can confirm I have seen each of those items fail, but you forgot the carbon build up around the intake valves which needs to be cleaned every 60k-100k. The gen 3 TSI engines have many improvements over the gen 2’s you are referring to, which is probably why you stopped at 2014. Edit: I didn’t expect to get this many questions. I was a tech at VW for 6 months and I didn’t see every scenario, so my ability to answer questions is limited.

Every time I think about replacing my 2003 F150, 5.4L Triton “2 VALVE” (it has 285K+ miles on it and runs fabulous), I look at what’s out there and forget the whole idea! I bought it brand new and love it! So glad I got the last year for the 2-valve engine, because I’ve seen what the 3-valvers are like.😝 At least mine takes “regular” style spark plugs!!🤣🤣

I happen to own a Trabant! I think the reason they've stuck around so much longer than other comparable cars is because of their superior simplicity, no water pump, fuel pump, cams or valves. Also it's impossible to neglect oil changes when you need to add it to the gas every time.

Owned a '02 WRX and kept it 17 years. Sold it with 208K miles, no real issues for the first 10 years. After that some stuff but nothing major. That said it had regular maintenance and not tuned within a inch of it's life. Spirited driving, not hammered every time I sat in the seat. Had a journal with every oil change, wiper blade, sold it for a premium. Guy told me "you are the guy people want to buy a car from".

I had a 99 Ford expedition with the Triton V8 5.4L. although it did spit out a spark plug in 2017, I heilly coiled it & never had an issue again. it was still running when I sold it with 395000 miles on it.

I've worked on enough Ford 5.4l v8's, I think you had the sparkplug issue mixed up though. The ford 5.4l 2 valve engines would eject the plugs due to having only 4 threads in the aluminum head to hold them in and Ford's torque spec was also inadequate. On the other hand Ford had the brilliant idea of making the 9/16" two piece plug that would snap inside the head on the 3 valve engine's 😉. However your not wrong on the overall lack of accountability in these manufacturer's doing nothing about it, hoping problems would slowly fade away, and basically telling people they don't care.

Chev small block NOT the 5.7 diesel. Where you getting your info? Obviously not a mechanic.That was Olds based.

The Northstar was an excellent engine, way ahead of its time. They fixed the head bolt issue later on. If being difficult to work on qualifies for the list then why isn't the Audi 4.2 V8 on here?

I once had an 04 F150 with the 5.4L 3v, ran it over 210k miles and no problem whatsoever. Keeping up with regular maintenance often makes it very reliable even though the world loves to hate on it lmao…

I thought sure the Chevy Vega engine would be on the list. But, it's from the 1970s and probably before your time. One of my coworkers had a Vega with its controversial aluminum engine and he claimed that all bad rumors were unfounded. Then one day, his car started showing some smoke in the exhaust and shortly after, his engine was toast.

I was a little surprised that the Chevrolet 5.3L AFM V8 didn't make the list. In my 14 years and 120,000 miles of owning my Silverado....the lifters failed twice with the cost of the repairs totaling over $13,000.

Retired Used Vehicle Dealer I am; whom has reconditioned over a thousand vehicles. Travers is short for "Needs new transfer case every 40 to 60 KM." The designs of today requires oil as thick as water 0/20 viscosity, to pump oil into tiny holes through hollow con rods and cranks. A speck of anything will clog the channel. IF I owned such a beast, LOF would be done every 3k at most. Lowest cost of the recondition of lot by far was Toyota 4cyl, followed by Honda 4cyl. Japanese V6 are not near as durable, especially of similar displacement. 2400cc dived by 4cyl = 600 cc per cyl. 2700 cc divided by 6cyl = 450 cc per cyl. smaller pins and rods dose not make a more robust engine. Any time vehicles have internal belt driven anything design, creates costly maintenance. Putting starters and water pumps inside the engine, coupled to an INTERFERENCE DESIGN insures expensive service.. I knew what was happening to the industry, that's why I bought a CORROSION FREE including the under carriage, No EGR 7.3 F250 29500 km, It's as good as Cummings, slightly more difficult to work on, but the frame and drive train is superior to Dodge. I replaced the entire transmission as torque converter was on it's way out at purchase. Jobber wanted $1800 Can. to make converter good, with a 1 yr feel good warranty. Vs brand new Upgraded from the original design Transmission from Ford with a 3 yr unlimited mile warranty covered anywhere in North America for $2700 Can, Dealer cost. Today's transmissions are $13,000 plus range. Also own an 04 4cyl Camry 119.000 km zero corrosion as well. I despise all the new stuff.

I think you’ve missed one rather obvious engine disaster: Porsche mid-2000s IMS self-destruct which was the subject of a major lawsuit. There are some other classics such as the under-engineered 145hp Chevy Monza 5L-V8 where you had to drop the engine to replace two of its spark plugs.

Never had an issue with my 5.4L. Frequent oil changes - changed plugs twice (was easy) and a few sensors as maintenance. It now has 330k.....still runs strong and I tow a 20ft ski boat and load the shit out of it without issues.

I have a 2017 Subaru levorg. 5 years old and 59000 kilometres it blew a rod through the block. Never missed a service, never tracked or modified. To add insult to injury they never diagnosed the issue saying 'the short motor is warranted for 2 years just bring it back if theres an issue '. They replaced the short motor and it still idles really badly and blew a spark plug. Its been off the road in the dealer for 4 of the last 12 months

The three valve Ford was indeed terrible, but the 2 valve 4.6 and 5.4 engine both before and after are some of THE most reliable engines ever made. The 3 valve spark plug design was just a VERY bad idea.

I am a fleet mechanic. We have Fords because they are cheap. That's why Ford dominates the fleet market. Boy were we happy to see the last 6.4 diesel truck finally go to the auction. Nothing but 6.7 diesels in our medium duty trucks anymore and we have close to a 1000. Those 6.4's break often and are a pain to fix. If you find a used one just pass on by, it won't be worth the aggravation.

I've owned two Subarus over the last ten years, one with an EJ engine I bought used, the other with an FB engine I bought new. I've never had any problems with the engines of either one.

When he starts talking about Hyundais - I have always wondered why anybody in their right mind would ever buy one in the first place. Honestly I'd buy a 5 year old Toyota with 100,000 miles on it before I'd buy a brand new Hyundai. I hope I didn't hurt anybody's feelings out there on this issue. But I was a fleet mechanic for 30 years and the last thing I'd ever do, is plunk down 5 digits for any car Hyundai makes.

The very recent PSA (Stellantis) 3 Cyl 1 Litre turbo gasoline engine ,with rubber timing belt that soaks on the engine oil , that rapidly deteriorates , clogging the oil pump pickup and "kaputs" the engine ...

I saw a Subaru in the thumbnail and had to click on it to see how hard them flat 4's got put down. I don't know if I and about fifty other Subaru owners I know got lucky with our EJ's, but when there all apart of the 300,000+ mile club, I think there pretty good.

The Toyota you meant to address was the 3vz-e. That was the engine in the 4runners and pickups. I know alot of people had issues, but I've beat the crap out of mine, went a year without an oil change, and used blue devil head gasket repair for over a year and the damn thing would always start up.

The engine on my brother's 2013 Kia Sorento locked up at only 80,000 miles. Thank God Kia honored their 100,000 mile, 10 year warranty!

I will share two even worst power plants. One was the screw up of all time: The Chevy Alum. 4 in the Vega. GM had the exceptional idea to run the alum. iron rings pistons in alum. cylinders with no liners. Virtually everyone died by 20-30K miles. The engine was replaced by the "Iron Duke" four, which was nothing more than a garden tractor engine, but it worked and didn't prematurely fail. The second was the 258 Cu in. 6 in the AMC products of the 70's. I had a Hornet and it was rebuilt 3X in less than 20K miles. One major contributor was their alum. bearings! Well I got to drive a Pacer 90% of the time on their loan program and upon the last rebuilt .... I sold it immediately.

"the sludge factory." 😂😂 It's so sad that the name is fitting

I had three Subarus 2.0 , 2.5 and 3.0L all were completely reliable never had any engine issues. Just service them on time.

Got laughed at for buying a used 07 Ford F-150 with a V6 instead of the V8. Then I told them I paid less for my truck than their engine replacement. That always goes over well.

I work for VW and honestly think you had the wrong engine as "worst" from the brand, the 1.4 TFSI (twincharge) in my.......well most of us is way more worst than the 2.0 TSI. Thanks for sharing 😊

How did the 6.4 powerstroke not get on this list, I thought it was gonna be #1😂

I remember in the early 2000s subi owners were all IT tech nerds, today they're (mostly just wrx owners) Gen Z artards that vape but most STI owners today are older and mature.

Wow, the 2.5 EJ series for Subaru Had an issue with the head gaskets themselves. It was a single ply head gasket on a naturally aspirated engines. The fix is to do a head job with the multilayer headgasket that was put on the turbo versions , I've seen people get three hundred to 4 hundred thousand miles out of them after the fix was made

I had a 2014 Sonic with the 1.4L Ecotec and a 6-speed manual. Found out about the engine problems after I bought it, but I *loved* that car. Never did have to worry about the engine - hit a deer and totalled it before I had to deal with that.

The 5.7L diesel was NOT BASED ON THE SMALL-BLOCK. it was an Oldsmobile 350, a completely separate family of engines. There was no big block or small block in the B.O.P. Engine family. Also, the 5.7L OLDSMOBILE diesel used a thicker, stronger block than its gasoline brethren, and those blocks were popular among racers to build as extra-stout gasoline olds engines. They could be punched all the way out to 455ci, like any other olds v8.

I own a 2010 f150 5.4 3v and have heard all of the horror stories. (knocks on wood) It has been meticulously maintained and as of today has 260k on it and is still my daily driver. I think the key with this and most engines is treat them kindly and take care of them.

8:16 The 3VZ-FE was found in the Toyota Camry 92'-93'(which you showed pictures of) was different from the 3VZ-E which was found in the 4 runners and trucks. Similar but not quite the same design and much more reliable. Was supplanted in 94' because Toyota swapped from an iron block to an aluminum blocked 1MZ-FE. Used to race these back in the day in V6 swapped MR2s

The Chrysler 2.7 is kinda funny because its predecessor, the 3.5, was great. I actually had a mid 90s Intrepid with that engine, and I loved it. The problem with the 2.7 is that it came about during the whole Daimler-Chrysler thing, and I'm convinced Daimler-Benz was actively trying to kill Chrysler.

The Renesis engine made about 230HP...if you got the RX-8 with a manual transmission. The automatics (don't know why someone buying an RX-8 would opt for an automatic) had about 212. Mazda's way of forcing you to get the manual transmission if you want more power.

I've had both a 2005 Subaru with the EJ257 with over 165,000 mi, and a '14 VW with the 2.0 TSI w 110,000 mi now and I've literally not had one problem with either engine. But I also do proper maintenance which is probably the biggest difference between ones that last and those that don't.

I had a Ford F-250, Triton 5.4L for 10 years. No issues/problems. Only sold it because I moved overseas.

I rented a Kia Sorento last year and it was a 2023 with less than 23000 miles on it. The engine blew with no warning and budget left us stranded for 2 days because their customer support refused to help.

Just a point for the GM deisel is that it was made from the Oldsmobile 350, not the Chev 350 as alluded to in the vid. Olds guys will use the deisel block for a gas buildup, it's stronger.

The Yugo was disqualified in the collision test. They had to push it to crash it into something.

For the europeans among us.... make sure you avoid the 1.6 THP engine at all costs! Its in a Citroen DS 3/4. Old mini's and in som Peugeots.. like the 5008 and the 3008.

This was an excellent engine guest list. You hit on a lot of the ones I was thinking in my head, and I had intentionally forgotten all about the north star turd 💩 Great editing and presentation as well. 🍻 ✌️ I will share this with lots of friends and customers.

For you not to put in the ford 6.0l or the 6.4l diesel is absolutely insane…

I have a lot of experience with the Kia Theta 2 engine. I don’t know why they aren’t listed as THE worst engine ever built. They blow up and set the engine compartment on fire. There’s an internal defect that causes the #4 piston rod to go through the side of the block. So, Kia recalled the engines. That was nice of them, but if the engine replacement is not done properly the fuel line on the high pressure fuel pump leaks and sets the car on fire anyway. If that’s not enough, Kia’s themselves have a couple of other issues. The hydraulic electronic control unit, otherwise known as the ABS unit, fails and will cause a fire and, lastly, the trailer hitch wiring harness will fail and cause a fire. Other than these little issues, they’re great cars.

I was working at the EPA vehicle emissions lab when the Yugo GV came in for testing/cert. I saw all I needed to see when it came time to move it to the city/highway test loop room, and rather than drive it in, the Yugo reps pushed it into place - this included having two regular sized guys pick up the back of the car by the bumper, and walk it around 180 degrees onto the dyno. They were not working hard to lift it.

Imagine a late model F150 with an old-school 351, or even a 300 6-cylinder and a manual. Nice truck, if you can get it to pass.

I was a heavy line tech for almost 50yrs. The last 5yrs I could see the direction things were going in the automotive repair business and retired early 10yrs ago. I never looked back.

Been a mechanic over 40yrs. I tell every vw owner not to go by the recommended 10k mile oil change. Especially since it plainly states in their owners manual that adding a quart of oil per 1200 miles is acceptable. Really? So if you don't add up to 8.3 qts till your next oil change, guess you're adding a new engine, lol. The LS engine is horrible with lifter issues. I'd rather change a lash adjuster without pulling the head like the Fords. The Ford 5.4 2 and 3v are excellent engines. It's the mechanics/owners that made their reputation bad. Not torquing plugs correctly and not removing them correctly along with incorrect/lack of maintenance caused most issues. Not once have I broke a plug off. I've came by many that practically fell out and found stripped threads caused by the previous mechanic over torquing. The timing sets are normal maintenance items that no one changes and then complains when they go out or lock up the engine. There's a reason the manual says replace the timing set at 100k miles. Of course it's Fords fault though, not the owners that didn't do proper maintenance. The 5.4 3v is one of the best engines despite everyones grief. You would never guess how many 3v engines I was told was blown by the dealer. Only one out of hundreds was bad. All the rest, a simple timing set and back on the road. The other issue is people using ebay/amazon timing sets. You know, the cheap pos parts. Other than mechanics that don't know how to fix things. People use the wrong oil, go 10k miles between oil changes, never replace timing sets, then want to complain when it's their fault. I myself still have two 3v trucks that both have blown engines(being sarcastic since the dealer and another shop said they were blown) that drive everyday hauling heavy loads just to prove a point. With how many engines I've worked on, replaced, and rebuilt from all makes, in my opinion, calling the 3v a bad engine is like saying biden is the best president we've ever had. Just not true.

"sludge factory" = every engine in every '80s MOPAR vehicle that didn't come from Mitsubishi, with the VW-sourced 1.7L engines being the worst.

The 6.2 l V8 is not old, or even old fashioned, but it is pushrod OHV (not DOHC) on purpose ... not that I'm a defender of GM, cannot understand how the best and brightest engineers in the world can make such unreliable engines as the 350 diesel and the Northstar. Oh, wait, yes I do, it's called "thrifting", "accountants" and "poor management". I get it.

Worked on a n63 in a 550. Very complicated but I liked the challenge. Definitely not for an impatient person though cause this engine will make you hate bmw

Only one of these I've personally owned would be an rx8. I owned her for about a year and a half and she never gave me any problems. But nine of those months I was overseas and she was sitting at my grandma's house getting started weekly so she didn't have much of an opportunity to give me problems

A friend of mine had a 5.7 diesel. He drove it until the pickup fell apart. Then I sold him a decent pickup and he put his engine in it until he died. His son still uses it for farm work.

We had a Kia Sportage and a Kia Soul and between the 2 cars had 5 engines. We traded the Sportage after 1 engine change and we got rid of the Soul after the 1st replacement engine broke a timing chain at 25 mph. We got it back with a brand new engine on a Friday and I sold it to Carvana on Sunday! Now we have a Toyota and a Lexus! Lesson learned!! Never go by the "normal" maintenance schedule. Always go by the "severe" driving schedule. I use synthetic oil and change every 5,000 miles.

I've owned 2 subarus both 2005 outbacks one of them an XT. Driven a few hundred. The NA EJ engine is terrible with headgaskets. In most of the ones I've seen it's the NA EJ 2002-2009 that are the worst. All the turbo models, just don't drive like an ass and change oil, coolant, and trans fluid regularly and its solid. 2005 outback 2.5i still being driven by current owner at 260K 2005 outback XT we have put 170K miles on it, currently sitting at 267K and it runs fabulous. Only work done is basic maintenance. Factory turbo and engine.

We had an '01 Expedition with the Triton and can confirm a spark plug shot into the exhaust manifold one day while idling through a drive through circa 2008. I was about 20 years old and thought it was something I did wrong (expedition belonged to my parents so I was freaking out). Thanks, Ford. Now driving a '16 F-150 with a coyote and much more confident

I have worked on a lot of Ford Exploders and Triton powered F150's, and they run for a lot of miles without the issues you mentioned. They are certainly not the worst engines. Abusive mechanics and no maintenance the usual problem. There also millions of them out there so they will get more publicity

Ford 5.4 3V. The discovery of the real issue of that engine turned out to be the low pressure oil pump. The 40 psi stock pressure wasn’t enough to deal with most people’s crappy oil change cycles. If you changed your oil every 5k you were fine, if you didn’t you paid the price with timing change issues and cam/valvetrain isssues. If you have those issues it’s a new engine, if you still have the engine there’s a company that sells aftermarket oil pumps that push past 50 psi and that’s how you bullet proof that engine from the get go. I have known this for many years so that’s why I have a 5.4 2v instead.

I have a theta 2.4, and they've released a knock sensor update that indicates if it's going to spin a bearing. If you have this update done on your vehicle, and it blows up, the short block is covered under a lifetime warranty now.

Thanks for all this valuable info. I'm a little surprised the small displacement Ford Ecoboost engines (2.3L and smaller) didn't make this list. Maybe you can do a separate video on them.

Dude, I never laughed so hard in my life. You made talking about the worst engines on the planet. Fun keep up the good work.

I work for a GM dealer. The 3.6 vvt is not as bad as you say. There were some years with timing chain issues, but we rarely see them anymore.

I like this guy. He doesn’t talk like we’re all 12 years old

My wife had a Hyundai GDi 2.4L (NA). By the time the car had 90K miles on it, it used over 1 quart of oil a week due to a piston ring problem. We took it to get it fixed and Hyundai said it was completely normal to use oil in these cars, just keep putting oil in it. They refused to fix it or admit there was a piston ring issue at all. Oh! And then there was a recall on oil pans because they had reported many vehicles had shavings left inside of the block from machining which were causing catastrophic failure. Brake lines would get hot and cause fires.... She drives Toyota now....

This was a fun find. According to the rules of 6° of separation. Everyone in America has experience with at least one of the engines. 2.7 18 years. No issues 99.000 miles. Sold in 2022. Got more than I should have for it.

WOW amazing TY so much ,,Keep up the great work

You forgot Dodge 4.7 V8. It was so unreliable Dodge was offering free Hemi upgrades in an attempt to get people to not buy it while they moved to cancel it. I say this as a Mopar guy.

Very surprised that you didn’t mention the Vega 4 cylinder. A friend had one and had to top off the oil level every fill up.

Yup we had a forester 2.5 turbo. Even with religious synthetic oil changes every 3500 miles the turbo eat itself, shit itself through the oiling system and destroyed the motor. That forester ran amazing until it didn’t.

Have had two Cadillacs with the Northstar. 1998 went 189K, 2005 has had no problems. In typical GM fashion, once they get a product right, they start something new. As for the starter, it's not that big of a job and very accessible. While maybe not in theory, a good location, it does stay very clean which extends the life and probably more easily accessed than many other more conventional locations. Around 2002, most of the head gasket issues were solved and the engine, over all, is very smooth and reliable. It has, however, become a whipping boy for GM haters.

I bought an F150 with a 5.4 in 2003. It was hands down the best truck I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a bunch. I traded it in with 166k and the only work I ever did to it was normal maintenance, coils and an alternator. I was in my 20s so it spent most of its life with the loud pedal on the floor. It was a great truck/engine.

FB engines don't have head gasket problems, they did burn oil until 2015 but are overall very reliable motors.

The main pattern is newness. Manufacurers uses to know how to make food engines (300 I-6, Windsor, 390 FE, 4 cylinder glat head...).

Hmm, being born in the 50’s I have successfully avoided every one of those engine.

My folks had a 5.4L in their 2010 F-150 all the way from new through to 2019. Only a couple of problems here and there over almost a decade of steady use. I was super surprised to see it top the list! Made decent power, sounded nice, and was reasonably reliable for them.

Congrats on the 1 Mil! Great video, as always!

Actually changing a starter on a North Star is a 30 minute job 😂

I used to find you annoying, but you've grown on me. Now, you're fantastic!

I had a mk6 GTI with the gen 2 TSI motor you mentioned. I sold it at about 75k miles, and I never had any issues with it, except having to clean the intake valves, which is an issue with most DI engines. I know they have their issues but I definitely don’t think they should be on this list. I’ve owned or seen way worse engine designs.

Subarus for the most part are absolutely great, other than a couple of small issues and the 2000s Subarus needing to get some stuff worked on so you don't have an engine failure with the engines are almost impossible to break

GM 3.6 is either a great engine or a horrible engine. Depends on who owns it and who maintains it. Some of these on the list it doesn't matter how well you maintain it, their just bad design.

As a hyundai tech I can honestly say that the 2.4L are garbage but the 2.0t is a really good motor if and only if you install an oil catch can. The main failure of those motors in my experience with them is the carbon build up on the valves causing them to get so bad and break. A simple catch can with normal flush intervals will make that motor go a longer way.

Love the video! The problem we see at GM with the Eco-Tech is the piston ring lands breaking and then breaking the ring. The fix required new pistons and rings if the cylinders weren’t scored.

As a former Ford owner I enjoyed this video. I remember owning 2 new Fords back in the early 80's. I had been to Europe and frequently drove a Ford Escort there. It got great gas mileage, had a spunky 1.5 liter engine that loved to rev, and handled great. So I bought a 1990 Escort in California. What a disaster. It had a 2L and was a complete dog. Not even close to the European car, in terms of enjoyment. Then I bought a F150 with the inline 6 cylinder. California again. It had a 5 speed, and was completely useless. It could barely keep up with traffic, forget about passing anyone. It didn't matter if you were in 4th or 5th gear, it wasn't going any faster. And since you basically had to floor the gas pedal, just to try to drive at normal speed, the gas mileage was horrible. I couldn't wait to unload both of them.

2014 Elantra GT. 2.0L 6spd manual, sport suspension. Maintained extremely thoroughly. On time oil changes. 92 thousand KM ticks over and so does the engine on cold start. Take it to hyundai, they sound like they wont do anything. Hand over oil change records, along with my dossier. (engine mounts, transmission replacement 55K multiple flex pipes, and a cracked resonator.) they tell me its approved, no tear down needed. Then did the tear down. "This is the cleanest one of these we've seen fail" bought the car new and it had been on full synthetic its entire life. No excuse but they at least replaced it for me.... Good thing too because the G4NC is 7.1 thousand on ebay. Selling the car, really liked it too but i didn't buy a new car for it to be a money pit within 9 years with on time maintenance. Bought a G35 and am building it into a tuner for the current price on the Elantra. While buying some used tires to throw on the G for winter i talked to the guy selling, from a Soul. Same Motor. He had 3 replaced before kia told him to screw off and said i was lucky mine made it this far. Good luck next guy, i did everything i could.

I'm driving my SRX Cadillac with a Northstar engine (LH2) now for over 11 years or 140k miles. And a few design issues have been solved. The mystery failure codes indicating low cat efficiency (P0420) and lean mixture (P0171) were solved after tightening the 10 bolts holding the plastic air intake manifold onto the cylinder banks. This is the only known issue, as far as I experienced, that could become a major problem over the years. These bolts stretch over the years because of the expanding ratio of the plastic they're holding, which is many times bigger than that of steel. Due to the leakage of air, in cyl#1, as I drove it on LPG over many years, the 2 exhaust valves on cyl#1 were burnt, forcing me to replace the both cylinder heads with new ones, retrofitted with hardened seats and valves to overcome the higher combustion temperature while driving on LPG. The 10 bolts that keep the intake air manifold were replaced by 10 studs (10,7 steel) with disk spring washers to keep all 8 intakes air tight. So far, everything runs smooth. And oil is changed every year, or 6500 miles, whichever comes first with Dexos gen 2.0 full synthetic Oil. A very complicated engine design, but very light, very silent, powerful and if maintained well, a top quality engine. By far the best engine I ever drove with.