The best V8 engines

TVR AJP8

The late TVR boss, Peter Wheeler, often joked that Mercedes spent more money designing its dashboards than his company spent designing an all-new car, so TVR developing its own V8 engine – the AJP8 – was all the more impressive. Wheeler planned to create a road engine that he could also sell to teams competing in the company's Tuscan Challenge race series, and he contacted legendary British engineer Al Melling to do it.

With help from John Ravenscroft and Peter Wheeler himself, the AJP engine designation comes from the first letter of each of their names. The close ties to the race series meant the AJP8 had features like a flat-plane crank, 75-degree head angle, a single-overhead-cam and a soundtrack to sell your children for. Sadly, it was also famously fragile.  

Toyota UZ-FE

Toyota's UZ-FE family of V8 engines don't make it onto this list because of their power or noise (both excellent), but because of bulletproof durability that saw them fitted to everything from the Lexus LS400 saloon to the Toyota Land Cruiser SUV. Toyota initially developed the motor to give the LS400 the quiet and smoothness needed to take on the Jaguar XJ and Mercedes SEL, featuring eight (rivals had six) crankshaft counterweights and unique cam followers to remove as much mechanical harshness as possible.

But it was also built to be as tough as old boots, with a reinforced engine block, forged steel crankshaft and six cross-bolted main bearing caps – the tech usually reserved for racing. Unsurprisingly, the engine is based on a stillborn motor originally intended for CART racing. 

GM LS

Probably the most famous V8 in the world is the GM small block, specifically the LS family of engines that’s been in everything from pick-up trucks to Corvettes and even boutique supercars, for the last 25 years. Lighter, more compact and more reliable than many European quad-cam motors, the single-cam pushrod LS engines have proven a darling for engine swaps and grassroots motorsport. LS-derived engines have won everything from Le Mans to Drift championships and continue to be a popular swap choice today, with a community so large and diverse that there’s an entire festival dedicated to them. 

Chrysler Hemi

Similarly beloved by the Mopar boys is the Chrysler Hemi, with its hemispherical cylinder heads and enormous valves. These engines were a darling of the US high performance scene, popular in drag-racing, engine swaps and of course, the Chrysler family’s muscle car, truck and SUV offerings. The most famous Hemi currently has to be the crazy supercharged Hellcat motor, which in its tamest form produces more than 700PS, seen in everything from Challengers to Ram pickups, and in its craziest form, upwards of 1,000PS, in the new Challenger Demon. Yes, all still with a dealer warranty… Get those Challengers and Chargers while you still can.

Ford flathead

You thought we were keeping it millennial, huh? Well, the fact is that one of the best engines in its day was also the first powerful V8 engine made affordable to the masses. We of course refer to the Ford flathead. Introduced in the 1930s, its sub-100PS power figures aren’t much to write home about now, but a century ago they were considered powerhouses for road cars. This is an engine family so famous that it’s been referenced in songs. Adored by the hot-rodding community, the ‘flatty’ still has a dedicated fanbase. More importantly though, this engine arguably paved the road for the V8 architecture as a totem of affordable high performance over the coming century.

Bentley L-Series (L410)

High performance doesn’t have to involve racing, towing or otherwise. It can simply mean potency in abundance, something Bentley buyers and enthusiasts have enjoyed for many decades. Why? The Bentley V8 of course. Powering the luxury marque’s greatest cars between 1959 and 2000, the Bentley V8 is a totem of subtle, unfussy performance, serving in everything from the R-Type Continental, to the Mulsanne. It doesn’t shout, it doesn’t splutter, it simply goes. In its final decades running in twin-turbo form, it reached torque outputs of 1,100Nm (811lb ft), available from as little as 1,750rpm. Good for quick getaways.

Rover

Often the mark of a good V8 is how many cars it’s used in. A good V8 is as versatile as it is powerful. The Rover V8 isn’t what you’d call a technical tour de force, but it was a diligent worker, powering everything from Range Rovers to TVRs, with a few disparate Leyland entries in between, ranging anywhere from 3.5-litres to 5.0-litres. We of course know and love it for its spectacular sounds at the Goodwood Members’ Meeting presented by Audrain Motorsport and the Revival, in the SD1 and TVR Griffith racing cars. 

Mercedes-AMG M156

What is AMG to you? To us, it’s barrel-chested, big-attitude, bombastic and boisterous. It’s big arches, Black Series, bravado and booming exhausts. What engine springs to mind with such a word cloud? A V8, specifically we’d hazard to offer, the M156 6.2-litre naturally-aspirated monster, the sound of which could curdle your blood as it rushes through your veins.

It is of course a high point in a spectacular lineage of engines, but it really stands out as a product of its era and an essential founding factor of the Mercedes-AMG persona. Powering everything from the SLS AMG super coupe, to the C63 super saloon and G63 super SUV, it boasts, like any great V8, a diverse tour of service. The 4.0-litre twin-turbo that took over is a great engine but it never quite filled the boots of the old 6.2.

Audi Sport FSI

Quite unlike AMG’s monster, the Audi V8 is a more exotic, delicate device. In its most compelling naturally-aspirated form, pairing potency with personality, it powered the R8 sportscar and RS4 and RS5 high-performance saloon and coupe. This was a delightful motor, producing 100PS per litre and revving up to 8,250rpm. In less extreme non-FSI variants, it powered the Q7 and in earlier cars, featured five-valve heads. It was certainly a more exotic, European approach to the V8 concept but still more widely available and accessible than certain Italian efforts.

BMW M S65

Okay, we’re getting pretty specific now, but come on, this is easily one of the great naturally-aspirated V8s of all time in terms of experience. Is it an absolute powerhouse? No. Is it versatile? Not really. But lord, does it sound incredible – BMW M engineering fetishism at its sweetest. Because no, it doesn’t share family lineage with any ‘conventional’ BMW engines. The S65 V8 and S85 V10 are a family of two, purpose-built high-performance engines. They have their problems as they age, as many do, but there are few automotive aural delights that top an S65 with a decent intake and exhaust on full song.

Lexus 2UR-GSE

If the Mercedes-AMG M157 was too brutish and the Audi FSI and BMW M S65 too highly-strung, the criminally underrated Toyota/Lexus 2UR GSE strikes the balance right down the middle. Displacing 5.0-litres thanks to Yamaha-engineered cylinder heads, this sonorous V8 powered Lexus’ answer to the big German three, the IS F. Powerful, charismatic, torquey, it was to my mind the goldilocks point of high-performance executive V8s.

It’s versatile too, powering everything from Toyota Land Cruisers to the achingly beautiful Lexus LC500. It’s not long for this world for obvious reasons, but it easily outlived the Merc, Audi and BMW engines, thanks to a blend of dependability and personality.

Jaguar AJ-V8

Like all great British V8s, Jaguar’s was a development of an American V8, specifically Ford’s OHC modular. In 5.0-litre supercharged form however, putting out near-on 600PS in the XE Project 8, you wouldn’t guess it. This is a long-serving, ripsnorting machine that’s single-handedly responsible for the love many people have for JLR products, specifically the SVR, SVO and R-badged stuff.

Once again, like most great V8s not necessarily forged in the furnace of motorsport (BMW M we’re looking at you), it’s versatile, powering everything from full-sized Range Rovers, to Jaguar’s stunning F-Type sports GT. Like the Lexus V8, it doesn’t have long left, but it’s a legendary totem in the brand line-up that will be sorely missed.

Ferrari F136

You didn’t think we’d miss them, did you? Far and away from the flatheads and small blocks powering pick-ups across the pond, the howling Ferrari V8 couldn’t be more different if it had more cylinders. With a flat-plane crank, dual overhead cams, dry-sump lubrication and more, Ferrari’s V8s are some of the most glorious internal combustion engines ever put into production.

The later turbo engines are of course fantastic, and the earlier mills are a tonic, but here we have to sing the praises of the last screamers, ranging from the F430, to the 458 Speciale – all 9,000rpm of it. Of course, a big shout out to the growling cross-plane versions seen in various Maseratis over the years.

McLaren M838T

Why no turbo Ferrari V8? Because quite honestly, McLaren might have done it better. The long-serving 3.8 and 4.0-litre twin-turbo mill has been around since the 12C and continues to serve (though not for long) in the Elva and recently-discontinued 720S. It’s an old-school machine that gained a real personality over its years, with weapons-grade lag that would spurn a shot of adrenaline and occasionally, some brown trousers, once it abated.

Did McLaren borrow it from anyone, or come up with this incredible engine itself? A bit of both. The basic design, if you can believe it, traces its roots back to the Walkinshaw-developed Nissan R390 GT1 car. McLaren bought the license, re-engineered it and had it built by Riccardo for their line-up of supercars from 2010 to 2023. What a thing.