The meteor is a great engine. As reliable as a german engine, but less maintance required. I spoke to an Ex-military person before. He joined in 1947, and they had cromwells and such to play with. Shermans and one Panther tank and one PZIV. The german engines performed great, and rarely broke down, But you had to keep up with the maintanence. The panther tank did however broke down numorous times on many parts tough. IIRC this panther tank is now in a private collection
As for the T34 diesel engine. It was a great engine. Simple yet efficient and reliable
But the sound and smoke it could produce, especially when the engine was cold.
Why did the germans kept on using gasoline engines for their tanks???
Because the sound of petrol V-12 is more than worth all the pain and suffering when it gets hit and set on fire.
But mostly what Butcher said.
When i heard my first german tank engine...
"You hear that? YOU HEAR THAT? THAT 3000 RPM GROWL? I love the sound of a maybach engine in the morning!!
And my first Pershing tank engine.....oooh god lovely! It is more growling and thudding like a harley engine when idle. But when it kicks into gear...hmmm Lovely!!!
And yeah, surpsingly, the german tank engines make LESS noise