Is Ferrari's 3.9 V8 Really The Best Engine Of The Last 20 Years?
The results are in for the International Engine of the Year Awards, and it’s the third win on the trot for Ferrari’s 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8. Not only that, but to mark the 20th anniversary of the awards, 68 judges were asked to pick the top engine from all the previous winners, and it was the ‘F154CB’ engine that came out on top.
Dean Slavnich, co-chairman of IEOTY, had the following to say about the result:
“Redeveloped and tweaked for the 488 Pista, the best engine in the world just got better. Without doubt, we’re looking at an engineering masterclass from Ferrari. No turbo lag, beautiful delivery, raw emotion, a furious growl and so much power – this Ferrari V8 is a work of art.”
But, all of this got us thinking - is 488’s turbo’d eight-banger really the best engine of the last 20 years? If we were picking any engine from this period (not just previous IEOTY winners) we’d be tempted to go for something else from Ferrari - specifically, the naturally aspirated ‘F140’ V12. Now that’s what we call “ raw emotion.” Incidentally, the 6.5-litre version of the engine won the ‘best new engine’ and over 4.0-litre categories this year.
What we want to do now is open the floor to you; what would you crown as the best engine of the last 20 years? Make your submissions and justifications in the comments section below!
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
hmmmmm, is it? Really?
The Lexus V10! Cmon guys……
I would count the BMW V12 in the F1, but thats just older than 20 years.
On paper the Ferrari’s is better from an engineering point of view the Farrari is better although my ear strongly disagrees
was about the comment the LFA V10 or Carrera GT V10
Couldn’t agree more
They forgot about the lexus
Also:
V10 from CGT
4.0 flat-six from 991.2 GT3 / GT3 RS
V12 6.5 from 812 SF
LT5 my dude
“and over 4.0-litre categories this year.”
I didn’t know we measured Awards in Litres…….
They have different categories for different engine sizes. Rotaries count as double displacement though, so the RX-8 won some awards in the 2.5-3L category.
I’d argue the GT3RS’ 4.0 liter flat 6 is better, but after reading the article, it really is a masterpiece by Ferrari.
Exactly my thoughts - still believe the 4.0 f6 its slightly better though
The LS7 used in C6 Corvette ZR1 is probably the best example of brute N/A power.
Or the VQ35DE.
Isn’t the c6 zr1 supercharged ?
ZR1 had the LS9 supercharged
Z06 had the LS7 N/A
It’s a fantastic engine for sure, befitting of a stallion badged car but the best in 20 years? Not a chance.
I really dont understand how this derp of engine won over the new McLaren engine used in the 720s?! Well at least McLaren dont sell weak customers car with underrated hp figure! 😂😂😂😂
It’s not all about power
Isn’t it awesome how much character a V8 has? Look at the AMG 4.0 V8. About the same displacement as the Ferrari, both have two turbos, both have 8 cylinders (though one is a flat plane while the other is a cross plane) but they are different animals. The Mercedes is a beast that has torque to spare from low RPMs, while the Ferrari is a high revving delicate powerhouse.
Of course the Ferrari won the award given how its engine is different from any other turbocharged V8
Not even close, this is a clear case of Ferrari’s name causing bias in the car communitty. Way better engines have been developed such as but not limited to; Koenigsegg’s brutal and innovative V8s, McLaren’s wizardry based V8s, Lamborghini’s soulful V10 in the performante, Buggati’s massive reworked W16 that just keeps punching, GM’s LT5 V8 that pushes out 700+ horses and can start reliably, The Demon’s V8 that brings innovative tech to a road car such as the AC cooler, the VR38DETT which can dish out supercar embarassing abuse as much as it can take it, Aston Martin’s 6.0 N\A V12s that made grown men cry and get a boner at the same time, Quite literally anything from a Porsche GT2/ GT3 in the last 10 years. All these engine’s and these so called “experts” who are probably just a couple of badge snobs that would stall a manual downhill pick a mid range V8? Pfffffft
Damn.
You win
The adjectives you have used don’t say anything about the engines other than the fact that you love those engines. Let’s take McLaren’s wizardry based V8. First of all are we talking about the 3.8, or the 4.0? Neither of those engines is revolutionary so to say. Great as the 720S engine is, its still a 4.0 V8 with big turbos. The Ferrari however managed to make a biturbo act like a naturally aspirated. Now I’m not saying you’re not entitled for an opinion, everyone can have a favourite engine, but let’s not neglect how great of an engine the Ferrari V8 is.
P R E A C H
I am in complete agreement with you, it is the emotion of driving a car that matters, not some numbers that you stick in an advertisement
S85 V10. Cmon, a high revving V10 pushing a good 500 horsies
Not to mention that’s it’s motorsport derived with a smorgasbord of clever tech. An all aluminium masterpiece <3
kind of an overhyped engine, but yes, true
Reliability is probably why it didn’t win anything. The E46 M3 (S54 I believe) made it though. But some of the other choices were laughable (i8 engine). I’d have thrown that out and put the S62 (E39 M5) in there in a heartbeat. Or the S63 for that matter. Or the S65.