Big question about MB's SOHC engines..
 

My 11 year old 400E has a M119 V8 engine, 4.2 Liter, it's DOHC, 32 valve, intake camshafts have variable valve timing, the latest 24 valve SOHC version V8s on E430s make the same horsepower and torque, despite the fact that it's 0.1 liter larger and has two spark plugs per cylinder.

When considering N/A engines, with current SOHC engine lineup, I feel MB is significantly outperformed by it's rivals, BMW now has VANOS and Valvetronic techniques, Honda has VTEC, Toyota has VVTi. BMW's Valvetronic is so advanced that it can continuously adjust both intake and exhaust valve timing, it can also continuously adjust the valve lift, it looks like MB has nothing to compete with them.

It seems MB simply chose supercharger and bigger motor to compensate, though they make great horsepower, but isn't it the same Eaton supercharger used by Mustangs/Buicks?

In some news groups, I saw MB was frequently criticized by this, I really had nothing to backup my belief of MB's excellence on this topic.

So my question is: What drove MB to use 3 valve SOHC in all its engine lineup instead of DOHC?

This has been "hashed" several times before!! There is only one reason that several MB engineers gave me, $$$$$$ much less costly to build!