2009 Wards Top 10 Engine list
 

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/07/w...gines-of-2009/

"General Motors Corp. and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. also make return appearances with their high-volume V-6 engines exemplifying practicality balanced with precision engineering.

GM's high-feature 3.6L V-6 with direct-gasoline injection returns for the second time. Tested in the Cadillac CTS, yet flexible enough to proliferate through the auto maker's CUVs, the advanced V-6 makes a hardy 304 hp on regular gasoline."

The quality is there...just a matter of the general public learning it is!

Of course all the written reports from all the different mags over the years has done a number on Detriot!

They just need time and money...

+1

stinks that Chrysler's 5.7 Hemi is the only pushrod on there

Don't feel too bad, where do you think they stole the design? The hemi motors are LSX knock-offs.

I still think the LS3 deseves some credit....

yeah, i know. it's just that so many companies are making engines smaller & using OHC or DOHC designs to maximize efficiency. i mean a pushrod 4.3 V6 can't hold a candle to the newer V6s of today (that are 1L or more smaller) without some serious help

I remember when there used to be like 3 engines up on Ward's every year by GM....

Top 10 Engine back to back, i love this engine

General Motors Corp.: 3.6L DOHC V-6
By Bill Visnic
WardsAuto.com, Jan 2, 2008 9:37 AM
Special Report
Ward’s 10 Best EnginesNot that we didn’t like General Motors Corp.’s “high-feature” 3.6L DOHC V-6 when it launched in the Cadillac CTS for the ’05 model year.
Its initial output was 255 hp and 255 lb.-ft. (346 Nm) of torque, and there were several competing similar-displacement V-6s already making in the neighborhood of 300 hp.
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Although we sometimes find ourselves wishing everyone would dial back a bit on premium V-6 output, 300 hp is the new 250 hp, just like 60 years old is the new 40.
Thanks to a decade of horsepower wars, 300-hp V-6s now are the price of entry in the premium market.
To get fully in the game for the critical new ’08 Cadillac CTS (and to upgrade the larger standard engine on the STS), GM powertrain engineers looked to gasoline direct injection, a technology quickly sweeping through powertrain-development departments on several continents.
Strap on the high-pressure (1,740-psi/120-bar) GDI hardware and fair-to-middlin’ 255 hp becomes 304 horses. And just as important, torque also is boosted by about 8%.
Just like that, the new, direct-injected variant (internal code LLT) solves probably the most noticeable shortcoming of the original variable-valve-timing 3.6L DOHC V-6: the fizzy low- and midrange torque and resultant soft throttle response. The new GDI-equipped 3.6L V-6 has torque that gets your attention at any engine speed, and the throttle pedal no longer thinks rapidly increasing its proximity to the floor is a request that should be pondered at length.
“Solid midrange pull,” says Associate Editor Mike Sutton. “Just pulls and pulls,” echoes Best Engines judge Byron Pope.
And the 3.6L DOHC V-6 likes to pull to the redline, too, and running to the 6,400-rpm power peak is a pleasure to be repeated, underscoring how essentially right GM Powertrain engineers got the noise, vibration and harshness.
We did note – and others have mentioned it, too – a boomy, low-frequency thrum at low rpm. We hear engineers were aware of the matter and are working out a fix that already may be penciled in by the time you read this.
And as we’ve noted with the latest crop of high-performance V-6s, fuel economy is not a strong suit. Despite the fact GM says GDI improves brake-specific fuel consumption by 3%, the rated 17 mpg (13.8 L/100 km) city and 26 mpg (9 L/100 km) highway figures aren’t going to get anybody too far down the road toward the new 35-mpg (6.7 L/100 km) standard in 2020. A huge points-winner with us, however: The big power can be had using regular unleaded gasoline.
But we’re talking the here and now, and GM’s latest 3.6L DOHC V-6 is a world-class engine we’d stack up against any V-6 – and it adds serious credibility to Cadillac’s goal of reclaiming its reputation for technology leadership
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Ya but the 4.3 is used for it's tourque and low cost, not it's ground breaking technology or higher cost of upkeep. The 4.3 is envinsable(probably misspelled) and cheap to repair or replace because of it's long service life and simple design.

The 4.3L V6 engine is a brilliant engine. Especially the Vortech series.

The 4.3 is a great motor. My 99 ZR2 had that motor. The torque that motor had was unreal. climbing a old logging trail was a breeze..

Remember me...lol

I hope everyone is doing great!

I heard about this on autoblog and let me tell you, how in the world did the LS3 not make that list???? I cry foul...

I guess there is a quota, if you don't have enough metal moving around in an engine it must be low tech or something...performance/fuel economy realities be dammed.

I want to share the Top Ten Autos of 2011, tell me what you think. This ends our look into Popular Mechanics' top 10 cars of 2011. I read this here: Part 2 The top 10 cars of 2011