I honestly don't believe PS3 had so much competition from the 360 because 360 was just that perfect. I think it was literally because MS knew the only way they could compete with the next Playstation would be to rush their product to the market and be the first 7th gen console out the gate. Combine that with it being the most powerful console around for over a year with the fact that Sony really showed their ass when revealing the PS3, and they had a recipe for success. The continued success came from the fact that MS was a lot smarter than Sony was when it came to working with third parties, and landed some huge marketing deals as well as causing PS to lose some of it's biggest third party exclusive franchises. It's a good console, but besides the pushes it made with online features, nothing really set it apart from the PS1, the PS2, or the XB during their respective generations.

Claiming X360 was well engineered is madness. Something that breaks down all the time isn't engineered well. Yes, over time the console turned into a very good and well balanced one, but only after many years and many new iterations! You can't say it's a well engineered console, when it took many years and new versions of hardware for it to finally make sense. I'd say the first Slim version was the peak. They solved the problem with RROD and gave it a sexy body (the best looking console of the gen imo). Still, there were consoles that were pretty much perfect from the get-go. GCN (apart from the colour it is pure perfection), SNES, PS4, maybe the DC (that was also a good and incredibly influencial design).
X360 had many good ideas, but was an awfully done job with extreemely poor execution. Kinda opposite to what the Xbone is. It is executed well, but the ideas behind it aren't that good. The RAM, the size, the HDD that can't be removed... Much worse that the PS4.

B maybe engineered is the wrong word. Forward thinking, perhaps?

Also, I'm not sure why the PS4 is considered the Best Engineered Console Ever considering there isn't a single sample in consumer hands that's been in use for two years yet.

I've seen many PS3s die just short of the 2 year mark, which is not to say that the PS4 will have the same issues because it shouldn't due to lower power requirements, lessons learned from PS3 manufacturing, etc. but it must be noted that it was around the 2 year mark that the RRoD for the XB360 became recognized as a widely occurring problem among consumers even as MS was in full damage control mode.

Way too early to give the PS4 a Best Engineered distinction.

The OP, as well as the majority of voters on this poll really just seem to be voting with their preferences rather than anything objective.

It shows a lack of understanding of what engineering hardware means, but I'd be willing to throw the OP that bone if that was the intended wording. I'd lean towards you're being too generous because the OP focuses on the hardware and technicals of the design which indicates that was not the intent.

The XB360 as a platform certainly introduced a lot of innovations in the software space as well as how players could interact with one another.

The hardware, for the first 2-3 iterations was shit. 

I left my PS4 on at my friend's house to get something from the corner store. When I came back, this was what I found:

So much for Good Engineering.

What? I don't think I know anyone who still has the first 360 they bought. Even if you discount the RROD issue the 360 was still extremely fragile.

For me, I would have go say either the PS4 or the Gamecube.

The PS4 because it pulled off being smaller, and more powerful than it's main rival while being cheaper, running cooler, and not needing an external power brick. Oh, and you can stand it up or lay it flat without issue.

The Gamecube was small, powerful, and immensely durable. I actually dropped mine down a flight of stairs once and I never had a problem with it.

Other than having a horrendous failure rate, it's a solid piece of hardware

I'd like to see you smash it with a sledgehammer and still have it work, lol.
GameCube all the way!

PS3 and PS2 were better.