What Otherwise Good Car Had A Terrible Engine?

There are plenty of bad cars with good engines out there. We’ve even asked you folks about them in the past, but what about the opposite? What about good cars with bad motors? Certainly there must be at least some cars out there that fit the bill. That’s what brings us to today’s question.

I want to know what you all think is the best example of an otherwise good car that is saddled with a terrible engine. What car would be nearly perfect if it had a different motor under the hood? Now, I’m not going to put you in any sort of box when it comes to what a “terrible engine” is. It could mean anything, really — performance, reliability, engagement. You name it. I’m not here to crush your creativity. And don’t be afraid to talk about an engine that people might love and gush over, either. That’s what I’ve done here, after all.

My pick for this question is a pretty nuanced one. It’s the 991-generation Porsche 911 GT3. Brand new for 2014, the 3.8-liter flat-six MA1.75 motor looked great on paper, and it made the GT3 an extremely fun car to drive with its raspy exhaust note, 475 horsepower and 9,000-rpm redline. There was just one problem with it: the engine was a hot, steaming pile of garbage.

All of these motors had a fatal flaw due to an engineering mistake that would lead to the connecting rod bolts failing. When those broke, the motor would be useful as little more than a paperweight. At worst, they’d catch fire. Luckily for buyers, Porsche owned up to the problem and replaced every single one of these engines under warranty with better, more reliable units.

Anyway, that’s enough out of me. How about you kind folks all drop down below and let us know what otherwise wonderful car was saddled with a terrible motor. I’m even going to throw in extra points if you tell me why you think it was terrible and what motor you’d use to replace it. Have fun!