8 Ordinary Cars With Far From Ordinary Engines

1. Lexus GS300

The car that gave me the idea for this post, thanks to the fact it’s a big ol’ luxury barge with a tune-happy 2JZ inline-six under the bonnet. In 300 form it comes with the naturally-aspirated version of the 3.0-litre engine, which makes it ripe for modifying; the GS has loads of potential to be a wicked sleeper, and with the ability to lock the automatic gearbox into second, it can even make for an unconventional drift weapon. In Japan, the Toyota Aristo (the GS’s equivalent) got the turbocharged 2JZ.

As Thierry Theuns pointed out in the original thread, America was lucky enough to get a GS400 model, into which Toyota chucked the 1UZ V8 giving extra sleeper status thanks to its 300bhp output.

2. Nissan Stagea

I am completely and utterly in love with the go-faster Nissan Stagea models, but I’ll admit I flip flopped a bit on whether to include it in this list, since in its hottest form it’s essentially a Skyline GT-R underneath with the twin-turbo 2.6-litre RB26DETT. Hardly ordinary, I’m sure you’ll agree.

But even in its more vanilla forms, the Stagea still gets the 2.5-litre twin-cam, single-turbo RB25DET unit found in the R32 Skyline GTS-t and R33 GT-T. The Stagea, therefore, is basically a practical Skyline no matter what model you get…

3. Volkswagen Passat W8

Just before the Phaeton became a thing, VW’s halo luxury car was the Passat W8. The 4.0-litre engine made 271bhp and 273lb ft of torque, and is best thought of as two V4 engines with very narrow-angle cylinder banks (like a VR6 engine) and a flat-plane crankshaft.

Unfortunately, such a unique engine layout meant the W8 didn’t sell particularly well - particularly since the Phaeton was more luxurious when it went on sale one year after the Passat W8 - averaging around 10,000 sales per year between 2001 and 2004.

4. Toyota Century

The Toyota Century is arguably the coolest car ever conceived. I mean, just look at it. It’s the ultimate evil henchman’s whip, and as such it has a suitably cool engine under that massive bonnet. Since the second generation Century was introduced in 1997, it’s had a V12 at its heart, making it the only front-engined, rear-wheel drive Japanese road car to have a V12.

5. Lancia Thema 8.32

Lancia is probably best known for making the Delta Integrale rally weapon, but the company has a much more rich and vibrant history than many give it credit for. The Thema 8.32 is a great example of this, as it’s packing a very Italian V8.

Borrowed from the Ferrari 308, the engine was altered slightly to be more suitable for use in a family car. A cross-plane type crankshaft was used in place of the flat-plane crank, smaller valves were fitted and a different firing order was used. This combined to give the engine 212bhp in its hottest tune.

When Horacio Pagani was looking for an engine for his new Zonda C12 supercar, he turned to Mercedes for help. The engine he sourced from the Germans was the M120 6.0-litre V12 found in the S600. So, pick up a used S600 and you’ve got yourself a luxury cruiser with a bonafide supercar engine - sure, it’s hardly ‘ordinary’, but in comparison to a Zonda it is…

And the best thing about it wasn’t the fact it was powerful. Nope, it was the potential for making a beautiful racket from the exhaust. The car in the video above - which has the M137, the M120’s replacement - has had a straight-pipe fitted, and boy, does it sound glorious.

7. Volkswagen Touareg V10

You probably weren’t expecting a diesel on this list, but the Touareg’s V10 is a mighty engine. The 5.0-litre unit made 308bhp and a staggering 553lb ft, ensuring that despite pushing along a massive 4x4 it could “pull like gravity”, as one overenthusiastic magazine put it at the time…

Sadly, emission regulations made life difficult for the unit, and it was eventually replaced by a V6 TDI powerplant.

8. Lincoln LS

The Lincoln LS looks like the sort of car OAPs drive when they’ve given up on life and just want to be beige until everything’s over. Except, it’s really not. The LS came with a Jaguar V8, and had 50/50 weight distribution - the only downside being that the V8 only came as an automatic because the V6’s manual transmission couldn’t handle the V8’s torque.

In its first generation, the engine was 3.9-litres in size, making 252bhp and 267lb ft of torque. For the second generation this was upped to 280bhp and 286lb ft.