10 Best Car Engines for 2014

The ten were chosen from 44 different powertrains that the judges examined; to be qualified, “A new or significantly improved engine or propulsion system must be on sale in a production vehicle during the first quarter of 2014.” The base price for the vehicle has been capped at $60,000, up from $55,000 last year. Here are the winning engines for 2014.

1. Audi’s 3.0 liter TFSI Supercharged V6 (S5) Audi’s fifth consecutive Best Engine appearance is owed to its new 3.0 liter supercharged V6, which offers 333 horsepower in the Audi S5. “Several new [six cylinder] engines have entered the market within the past five years, but few can match the Audi’s brute strength, luscious torque and supreme refinement,” Ward’s Auto says in its press release.

I'm not surprised. MB Diesels are unbreakable. One of my uncle's brought over a 1967 Mercedes Benz 600 Pullman Limo from Germany back in the early 1970's. Still mechanically perfect to this day. Everything under the hood except belts hoses and spark plugs/plug wires is all original.

When my wife and I married in 1986, it was used to bring my wife and the brides maids to the church, and then us to the reception afterwards. That car is a head-turner.

I recently picked up a 2015 Mercedes CLA250 and find the 2 liter turbo to be really nice.

I looked at the CLA250 because I liked it's lines. I don't know if something was wrong with the one I test drove, but I thought the turbo was quite "laggy" for my liking.

It also didn't feel like a typical MB suspension. At least to me. Interior and technological amenities I thought were quite good for a car in that price range.

Maybe I should go back and test drive it again...... still trying to make up my mind.

One of the "dislikes" from the folks who test/rate cars is the way the tranny feels, especially in economy mode. I found that the way i use the gas affects the feel and have found that once I got used to it, it is very drivable. In economy mode, it is loath to drop a gear or to drop to the lowest useful gear. When in sport mode, it is a lot more responsive and keeps the rpms higher for instant power along with better gear management - it also seems to use a tad more of the turbo and hits higher rpms before shifting. I find that I can make better use of economy mode by utilizing the shift paddles (you can drop gears with them even when in economy mode - when you hit one, it hits a temporary manual mode and if you take no action for 5 seconds or so it will automatically return to economy mode.

I found that I was being more timid with the gas in economy mode because of the way it felt -using a little more pedal helps and giving it a little extra quick nudge will drop a gear for when you are at low rpms in 7th gear.

Took it from 60 to 105 just to get a feel of how it runs and it is deceptively quick when you use what it has to offer. I have the AMG sports package (didn't want to blow the cash on the souped up AMG version of the engine)and it sticks to the road like a cat on a curtain. Of course I imagine that the non-sport models also stick very nicely. I have 2000 miles on mine and it seems to be more fun/pleasurable to drive each time I get into it.

Bottom line is that the economy mode is really really geared for economy and if you let it run you instead of vice-versa, it can feel sluggish, but a little familiarity makes a huge difference.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.