The 10 best diesel engines
.jpg)
Diesel Power magazine, a publication dedicated to compression-ignition pickup trucks and the people that love them, has released its list of the Top 10 Diesel Engines. Now, considering the difficulty of naming 10 diesel engines that have been sold here in the US - much less making a case for the inclusion of each on a top-10 list - the editors decided to have a bit of fun with this task. How much fun? Well, the massive Wartsila-Sulzer ship engine and its 1,556,002 cubic inches of displacement (that's no typo, and it works out to over 25,000 liters) slotted in at #9 on the list.
For those not willing to think outside the world of passenger vehicles, the relevant entries break down like so - the B-series Cummins squeaked in at #10, the GM/Isuzu Duramax slots in at #6, the Ford/International 7.3L Powerstroke slides in at #5, and the VW 5.3L V10 is a bit of a surprise at #3. Now, it remains to be seen how Diesel Power's readers accept this rankings, and we're guessing that it's going to be a busy month in its mailroom.
[Source: Diesel Power]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ken 9:33AM (1/09/2009)
The Detroit 71 series , 671 in perticular. 60 years of service 6 wars,. I know a lobsterman who got 65,000 hours on a nateral 671 before rebuild! Sure power to weight ratio could be better but the engine as a whole may have been resposible for winning WW2 !
Reply
Tim UF 4:06PM (8/07/2006)
rudolph diesels original: 60.oL fired on peanut oil (BIODIESEL!)... governed speed: "slow as death" haha.
Reply
David Thompson 4:16PM (8/07/2006)
No EMD 567? C'mon.
Reply
TDIMeister 4:32PM (8/07/2006)
Powerstroke 7.3 coming ahead of the Duramax and B-series Cummins? All credibility is lost . I can think of several engines that would easily and deservedly displace some of the engines in the list. The Audi 4.2 V8 TDI (and while we're not limiting ourselves to North America-available production passenger car Diesels, why not the V12 TDI of the R10 Le Mans racer?) and the twin-turbo inline-6 of the BMW 535d come to mind.
Reply
Vctor Rubiera 4:49PM (8/07/2006)
I hope the magazine was making us a joke because thet are completly wrong
Reply
David 5:51PM (8/07/2006)
I'm impressed like most people at the size and torque of these engines, but in the end there are too many old-school diesels that sound like a box of rocks when they are running. I hate being next to any diesel truck at a stop light with my windows down -- loud and pointless noise pollution.
There's a Powerstroke that starts outside my window every morning at 4:45 AM and wakes me up, so of course I'm biased. Why the hell can't Ford figure out how to make it run quietly? I drove a VW TDI for years in Europe, and it was quiet -- why can't Ford do the same?
Reply
Power Stroke? 6:47PM (8/07/2006)
The Power Stroke is ahead of the Duramax?
Hasn't the Power Stroke suffered badly from issues in the fuel delivery system?
Has this problem been blown out of proportion or did Diesel Power blow it badly?
Reply
Keith 9:09PM (8/07/2006)
I don't like Ford, but the Ford engine they are talking about is the one BEFORE the current POS one. From what I know, the older 7.3 liter was a OK engine, and is VERY popular, can be tuned easily, etc. IIRC, it was the first diesel truck engine to be really drivable and usable as they all are now.
But yeah, the Cummins should have been first or near first.
Reply
Dirk Dundenburg 9:16PM (8/07/2006)
The 6.0L Ford Powerstroke is the one that's a POS. There's a few guys at work with these engines. Driveability issues and one injector oil pump failure at only 24K. The oil pump failed as he was 100 mi. in the bush and 600 mi. from home. The subsequent hassles and loss of faith in the engine had him trade it in on a Dodge/Cummins combo.
Reply
x23 11:23PM (8/07/2006)
that a pretty stupid list. there are tons of better diesels than those. the aforementioned Audi LeMans engine immediately came to mind as a no-brainer addition to this list. a lot of the european passenger diesels also would make sense. like the Honda Accord Diesel plant always gets great critical reviews especially being from a first time manufacturer.
in fact this whole list is basically made up of the clackity noisy diesels that give passenger car diesels a bad name.
Reply
grunt 3:41AM (8/08/2006)
GEEZUS, what a redneck report!!
Where are the Audi, BMW and Mercedes diesels? They are truly revolutionary.
Idiots.
Reply
Power Stroke? 4:07AM (8/08/2006)
Thanks for the info on this Power Stroke engine in the list. I couldn't read the list at all before, the link wasn't working for me. Now that I see it, it does seem to be pretty topsy-turvy.
I agree I can't see the Cummins sitting where it is. And only one European Diesel? Europeans are way ahead of Americans and Japanese on Diesels right now. Any list that mostly ignores them is pretty stupid.
I would think any list should include a few of the Diesels that have actually changed people's minds about Diesels. Diesels that showed that Diesels aren't just for big trucks. Many of the BMW, VW or MB Diesels fit the bill.
Reply
Howard Kerr 5:54AM (8/08/2006)
These guys SEEM to know diesels...and they do say this list wasn't application specific. But come-on, as has been pointed out by a few folks here, BWM makes one of the best if not THE best automotive diesels on the planet at the moment with Honda giving them "a good run for the money".
Reply
b_panaitescu 2:34PM (7/26/2009)
- third place BMW V8 turbo 4426 cmc 330 HP 750 Nm - 10,7 litres per 100 km
- second place BMW straigh six twin turbo 2994 cmc 286 HP 500 Nm - an unbelievable 6,7 litres per 100 km!
- first place Audi V12 TDI 5994 cmc 500 HP 1000 Nm - 11.9 litres per 100 km
It's all about : power and consumption, torque and reliability ratio, with less emisions posible.
This guys of the "Diesel Power Magazine" sims to know nothing about diesel engines!
supercars 3:59AM (9/22/2006)
#1 Rudolph Diesel’s First Working Engine
"Why We Dig It: Without this piece of history, we’d have nothing to write about."
They are totaly objective :)
Reply
merle howard 4:13PM (6/21/2007)
I worked on a cooper-bessamer that ran 450 rpm, I loved the sound it made, I would love to hear the sound of the Wartsia- Sulzer at 100 rpm, even with 12 cylenders
it must be a hoot to hear, how about takeing a recorder and placeing some sound with the picturs???
Reply
shepp 6:02PM (9/29/2007)
I think you guys are missing a point here they said the greatest engines that have been sold in the US the european and japanese diesels that you are quoteing have not been sold in the US since the 80's except for the new mercedes but those were a far cry from what they are today so when americans end there hatred of diesels and relise that they get better mileage than those stupid hybrid's while still having a little power to do things like pull hills then you can replace some of the motors on the list with those motors. And BTW where are the two stroke detroits they made the idustry.
Reply
frank 9:13PM (3/13/2008)
they are alive and well in fire trucks that have to go regardless reliable forever YESSSSSS