ANY engine is a good one, provided you meet the "care and feeding" schedule.
I have a fondness for Ford, Nissan and Mazda engines, cause they seem to be able to take the most abuse. I include Mazda's cause my particular Escort is a Mazda cousin and powered by a Mazda/Ford power plant.
A lot of folks dump on Ford, but I've never been around a truly bad one. I've heard about some isolated cases. But my old man kept a bunch of 'em around. We had Farilanes, Falcons, T-bird, LTD/Galaxie, Mustang, etc.
Not all were pretty. Not all were fast. But I've only been "stranded" one time by a Ford, and that was a result of my lack of skill and knowledge, not because of the car. I did a poor job on a carb rebuild, if you must know, and the car just quit 5 blocks from the house. (Holley double pumpers are a ***** to rebuild for a repair "virgin")
Every other time I was having problems, they've always gotten me home, or to a repair facility. Plus, a Ford will usually give you PLENTY of warning that it's about to go "teats-up."
I can't say that about most of my Non-Fords. And for fairness sake I have had, or been exposed to on a long term basis, GM cars, Dodges, VW's, Austin, Mercedes...
The least reliable of the bunch have been GM and Mopar.
I've had 2 Pontiac 6000's the first one spent a great deal of the first year we owned it (and it was free) at Wilson GM, for one problem or another, the last time it broke it had tranny problems, and the people who fixed it, had it for a month. How can you need a month to fix an American car in the middle of Kansas? Especially in a town with two GM dealerships. I had an old 'Gutless' (I mean Cutlass) in college, that if I'd had half a brain I shouldn't have bought. It ran good for about 6 months after I bought it. Then the engine ran, but it never did go anyplace else under its own power. It needed tranny work/replacement, and I couldn't afford it. But I felt sick every time I looked at that car.
My Mopar problems are legendary. MY wife's old van has less than 200,000 miles on it. It is currently on it's third rebuild.
It's had the bottom end rebuilt once, the top end rebuilt once, and the whole thing once.
My son is currently driving it back and forth to school (His first essential item purchased after we repaired and gave him the van was a new cell-phone. (So he could call for help if it gives up the ghost whilst he's driving it).
MY V-dub was more reliable, and it had to be push started most of the time. The only real problems with the V-dub were that it tended to need the plugs tightened about once a month, cause they had a habit of working their way out of the block. And because of a design flaw, the Starter would overheat, and the car would need to be pushed to start. But the old VW bus is so light, that I could push start it by myself on flat ground. My wife usually parked on a slight incline, and she was fine with it.
My Nissan was dead reliable. However, it had two major breakdowns. One I knew was coming. The other was a total suprise. Otherwise, It lived thru indifferent maintanence and a grueling schedule of pizza delivery. I could go on, but I figure you get my point.
My next car will probably be a Ford or a Mazda.
