Ducati Desmodromic owns them all. No need for variable valve timing when you're just plain better

 

How is Honda's "better"??? It is the most simple of all variable timing and lift systems. It is either "on" or "off". It is NOT continously and infinitely variable like the other systems are.

As for nissans VTC system being "new" The 93-94 Nissan Maxima with the VE30DE motor had VTC....yup...definitely not very developed in TEN YEARS.

 

Because Import Tuner magazine sez VTEC makes mad powah yo - it's off tha hizzie.

Seriously, from the cars I've driven that had variable valve timing (Civic Si & Celica GT-S), it seemed like variable valve timing was just a way to get peak power numbers up for the sake of advertising. The Civic wasn't as bad, but you had to spin the Celica up to 6K to get any power out of the thing. A real shame too, we were seriously looking at one for the wife.

 

Sure you aren't just saying that being biased because you drive a car with a big V8? I am thinking that if you drove a similar engine without the variable valve timing but similar specs you'd realize that the VTEC and others are good, but the other is just much worse. Perhaps? Just speculation, dunno what you have test driven.

 

VTEC is a combination of two different technologies, the first being variable valve timing, the second being lift control.

Many manufacturers have used variable valve timing over the last forty years. It is not a new technology per se, but Honda was the first company to use it in a mass production model. VVT for short is mostly about controlling emissions, not performance enhancement, especially during cold starts when emissions are worst. VVT is just what it sounds like, it varies the timing of the opening and closing of the valves. VVT can be utilized on intake and exhaust valves separately, like intake only as is the case on the SVT Focus, or exhaust only, or on all valves, depends on the system.

Electronic lift control is a fancy way of offering good torque development down low in the RPM range and offering good torque development up high in the RPM range. Usually doing so is an oxymoron from a camshaft perspective. Nowadays that's not so much the case when using reverse split camshaft designs and so forth, especially in engines like the 350Z and LS1's where there's enough displacement to develop decent torque down low without sacrificing high end RPM torque generation.

With smaller displacement engines it's another story, so the camshaft is built with two different lobes per cylinder, one to enhance low end RPM torque generation, and a different lobe specifically geared for very high RPM performance. An electronic CPU/brain determines when in the RPM range to cut over to the second lobe to maximize high RPM torque. Lift control gives the best of both worlds, and Honda was also the first company to pioneer this technology in mass production.

Toyota has VVTL-I (I think that's what it is in the Celica GT-S models), Nissan's Spec-V uses only VVT type technology (no lift - otherwise it'd have a much higher redline than 6200RPM) for emissions mostly given the large displacement I4. SVT Focus uses VVT on the intake valves only (or maybe the Focus uses it on intake only and the SVT uses it on both exhaust/intake, can't remember). Anyways, I'm sure most folks here already know all this but I figured it might help at least a few people understand the basic differences...

VTEC is a bit outdated in that the VVT technology wasn't variable, it was fixed from the factory. i-VTEC is the new generation that introduces infinitely variable valve timing for Honda engines, which further enhances low emissions and efficient use of fuel and exhaust in the cylinder, which therefore enhances MPG. Yes, it may slightly enhance performance, but nothing compared to electronic lift controls.