You're on crack, I have never heard of a mechanical VTEC failure in my LIFE.

The reliability of the VTEC system is not the limiting factor for either.


Note that the tramissions mated to the automatic VTEC's in the 5th gen were quite problematic, that was a design flaw of the transmission though.

:edit:

VTEC models are available in nearly ever car model at some point in it's lifetime. The DOHC models are preferred as the SOHC models didn't have the space on the camshaft to allow full use of differing exhaust and intake lobes.