Well Pierce comparisons are relative. U wouldnt tell your best friends they have an ugly baby would u? Those engines do have a big following, so there must be a lot of good things about them. For myself I try to learn about as many kinds of infernal combustion engines as I can. U never know when u will be forced to repair some odd thing on some odd car. Yrs ago a guy I worked with agreed to hold my hand while I did some repair on my old ford. On the way to my house his clutch messed up so there we were in a wide spot in the road pulling the tranny on his old chevy. Oh yeah lots of laughs.