Timing belts are nice smooth feel to them no doubt.. but when you combine them with an interference engine design, your entire engines lifespan is tied to that thing failing.
That literally is the weakest point in the engine.. seems insane that any manufacturer would combine a timing belt with an interference design, but its made a come back in recent years to improve fuel economy and decrease engine size... At the very least use a chain when developing an inteference engine ... sigh.
Nissan’s been shipping their V6s like that for years. They tell you to replace the belt every 60 or 105K (depending on generation) and they *never* break prematurely. The belt is usually actually good for 120-140K.
They did recently change to chain drive because of their variable valve timing and clearance issues.
Amen, Brotehr.
I clearly remember the exact moment the timing belt on my Acura Integra snapped. There was a single moment (about 1/50th of a second, actually) where there was a universal ‘snapping’ sound of the valve stems being sheared off, then complete silence.
The beauty part was that the failure occurred within a mile of my destination after a 35 mile commute and directly in front of a full-service automotive repair shop.
In retrospect, that car was the best $9,000 and 200,000 miles I ever spent.
A friends dad had an old British car, I can’t remember which one it was now, that snapped the timing belt not long after he rebuilt the engine. He put it up for sale the next day, decided he didn’t want to put that much love into something that would destroy itself every time a piece of rubber and cord broke.