America has a rich automotive history. A leader in vehicle sales (second only to China), the country has also produced some of the most prominent automotive innovations throughout history. American automakers have excelled in engine manufacturing, with companies like General Motors (GM) and Ford regularly producing engines ranked the best by industry publications. Additionally, if you’re looking for your next vehicle purchase to house a superior engine, you should consider one with one of these V8s.

What makes a superior engine?

While many automotive publications have unique criteria for evaluating engines, most would agree that when you’re examining an engine, you’re looking at its output of power and torque, as well as its noise, vibration, and harshness levels. You’d also be looking at how well it performs in various common driving situations.

While powerful does not always automatically translate to better, many automotive critics and car enthusiasts instinctively give some deference to the V8 engine. Given their unique configuration, V8s provide vehicles with faster acceleration and more power than V6s or four-cylinders.

Many automotive periodicals list V8s among the very best. For example, you’ll find the Ford Mustang GT’s and Chevy’s Silverado‘s V8 on Ward’s 10 Best Engines List. Three V8s made it onto Car and Driver‘s “The Best Naturally Aspirated Engines of All Time (a list of eight total). Elsewhere, on CarBuzz‘s “16 Of The Greatest Engines Ever Made,” V8 engines took six slots.

What kinds of cars have V8 engines?

Of course, you’ll not find a V8 engine in most base model daily driving sedans. V8s typically are found in trucks and performance-oriented vehicles, like sports cars. If you’re about to get your hands on vehicle models like Ferrari or Lamborghini, you’ll likely find it housing a V8 engine. However, you may also find it in sporty variants of sedans and SUVs. You can also find them added to popular models as an aftermarket modification.

While the very first V8 engine originated in France, V8s are certainly not just a staple of foreign auto manufacturers. Indeed, America was the first country to produce the V8 in mass quantities. The V8 in the 1932 Ford Flathead, widely regarded as one of the best V8s ever produced, made this engine model tremendously popular among consumers in the early part of the twentieth century.

In fact, the V8 might still dominate passenger vehicles if not for more recent developments. Periods of prolonged gas price increases have fueled consumer appetites (and automotive design work) for more. Additionally, climate change has also led consumers and automotive manufacturers alike to pursue more green designs.

What are the top five American V8 engines?

However, if you’re looking for a not only a good old-fashioned American V8 engine but one of the very best, you’re going to opt for one of these five, recommended by HotCars:

• The supercharged Hemi 6.2-liter is found in the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. With this V8 in the Hellcat, you can hit 60 mph in just 2.1 seconds, off of 717 horsepower.
• The 2-liter Predator V8 powers the Mustang Shelby GT 500 with 760 hp. The Shelby GT can go from 0 to 60 mph in 3.4 seconds.
• The Chevrolet Supercharged LT5 V8 produces 760 horsepower in the Chevy Corvette ZR1 and takes the car to 60 mph in less than 3 seconds.
• The SSC Tuatara twin-turbo 5.9L V8 generates a whopping 1750 hp and propels the SSC Tuatara to a lightning-fast 316 mph.
• GM built the Chevrolet Performance ZZ632/1000 exclusively for drag-racing builds. The ZZ632/1000 produces an impressive 1004 horsepower and 876 lb-ft of torque.

These V8s provide the muscle that distinguishes a supercar from a sporty sedan. So, while you’re not going to find one of these in your run-of-the-mill daily driver, you’re going to be blown away when you’re behind the wheel of a vehicle sporting one. You don’t need to spring for a Lamborghini to experience all the thrills of a V8. You can enjoy all the thrills of a high-performance sports car if your vehicle sports one of these V8s.