Hi,
I don't know what you've got against inlines. What's "tragic" to one man
may be "magic" to another. Wind up an Offy or some of Honda's racing
engines and tell me again an inline 4's a tragedy!
I'll agree an inline 4 isn't the best balanced of all engine designs,
but there are zillions of 'em out there, often w/ LOTS of miles. That
tells me something (like inherent balance isn't the greatest measure of
longevity?) Of course, balance doesn't hurt: there's a reason so many
big commercial diesels are inline 6s! (And many come w/ warranties in
the neighborhood of 600k miles...) Methinks your problems may go deeper
than engine design.
Should we condemn boxers because so few manufacturers have figured out
how to keep them from leaking a variety of fluids (INCLUDING Subie?)
Nothing's perfect...
Rick