engine harshness at high revs

imag

I agree that it's the valvetrain. That VVEL system is slick, but it somehow is causing more vibration than a well-refined camshaft, is my guess. I think it's worth it overall, but that's just me.

My counterpoint to the car mags is that Porsche flat sixes - every single one of them - sound like complete rubbish below 2000 RPM. They may sing a decent song above that, but the fact that 100K+ cars sound so much like VW Beetles at idle is inexcusable in my book.