M176

Affalterbach drew the 4.0-liter V8 as one modular family with three faces: the dry-sumped M 178 for the AMG GT, the M 177 for the road-going AMG cars, and the M 176 as the version Mercedes-Benz would sell under its own badge. All three put the two BorgWarner turbochargers inside the 90° vee rather than outboard of it, a hot-vee layout that shortens the exhaust path, sharpens response and lets the whole engine sit lower and narrower. The heads are cast in an aluminum-zirconium alloy for heat conduction and the bores are twin-wire arc-sprayed rather than lined.

The M 176 reached the G 500 in mid-2015 and the S-Class in 2017, displacing the M 278 and cutting consumption by roughly a tenth. Much of that saving comes from CAMTRONIC. In the Comfort and Efficiency programs, between 900 and 3,250 rpm, eight actuators slide zero-lift cam lobes into position on cylinders 2, 3, 5 and 8 while fuel and ignition to those cylinders are cut, so a V8 saloon trickles through traffic as a four. Ask for more throttle and all eight are back within milliseconds.