[tock172]

I'm personally not a huge fan of V6 engines in general, but there have been some very cool ones like the Alfa Romeo Busso, the odd-firing Dauntless found in older Jeeps and of course the Buick 3800. Some of the Audi designs with 5 valves per cylinder are neat too, and so are some of the SOHC (per bank) Mercedes designs that use a 3-valve head.

That being said, my biggest complaint is that a V6, no matter if it is 60, 90 or 120 degrees is always an inherently unbalanced engine. Even with balancing shafts (which add weight and subtract performance), a V6 has always felt like a compromise to me.

Although packaging constraints limit their use, inline sixes and flat sixes are perfectly balanced. Why try to reinvent the wheel if you don't have to?

Mercedes has just launched a brand new turbocharged, DOHC, 24-valve inline six paired with a hybrid drivetrain in the next generation CLS after using V6s for close to 30 years.