I don’t know a ton about foreign motors other than surface level stuff like the 2JZ, Wankel, etc. so please forgive my ignorance outside of US motors.
However, in my eyes, it doesn’t get better than the simplicity and easily available power of the SBC, BBC, and 6BT. What are your all time favorites and why?
ALH TDI. Cheap to find, cheap to get parts for. Easy to tune. Great aftermarket performance options. Can run a 13 second 1/4 mile and still get 45 MPG. They are rock solid too. I have seen (and done myself) some crazy abuse and they just don’t care.
Just because of the awesome rev limiter and good reliability, the Jeep 4.0