V8 engines that emit a glorious tone sometimes go down in history even if they’re not all that great to drive. On the other hand, it’s somewhat rare for a car with a terrible-sounding engine to become a legend. That’s brought us to our question of the day. What V8 sounds the worst?
It might be easy to look toward something in an everyday family SUV as the clear winner. For example, a mid-2000s Chevrolet Tahoe with a 5.3-liter V8 probably doesn’t provide the kind of noise one might expect or desire from a small block. Even if we focus entirely on performance-focused vehicles, this list could be quite long.
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The video below is a great indication of where this entire conversation might go. The BMW X7 M60i xDrive. Under the hood is a 4.4-liter V8 that makes 523 horsepower (390 kW) and 553 lb-ft (748 Nm) of torque. That’s more than the E60 M5, the Mercedes E55 AMG, and just shy of the original BMW X5 M. At the same time, the X7 M60i xDrive sounds terrible.
Why is that? It’s certainly not the engine. The same twin-turbo V8 sits in several different BMWs including the M850i xDrive, where it sounds fabulous. That means that it can’t totally be the turbochargers’ fault either. The noise likely comes down to multiple factors including the turbos and the goals of a three-row SUV. Still, it might not be the very worst.
That lack of honor might go toward something from the far-flung past. Don’t forget that during the oil crisis, countless V8s sitting inside of historical muscle car nameplates came out with far less power than a modern-day Toyota Camry. That said, they didn’t boast throaty V8 noises either and that’s why they might be the worst of the worst. Perhaps there’s a big or vitally important engine that we’re missing though.
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It’s plausible that the promise of greatness is enough to make an otherwise fine eight-cylinder even more disappointing from an audible perspective. Are these the worst-sounding V8s? Tell us below!