Back in 1961, General Motors subsidiary Buick, makers of the brilliant Riviera, introduced a brand-new small-block V8, which they called the 215, alluding to its capacity in cubic inches. The engine was very well-made, using aluminum in its construction, as well as being compact, lightweight, and capable of producing oodles of power.

UK automaker Rover saw potential in this engine, which is why their head of American operations, J. Bruce McWilliams, who was on a mission to find a new V8 engine they could use in their passenger cars, settled on the 215. They bought the rights, renamed it the Rover V8, and pretty soon, it began appearing in some really awesome cars.

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9 Rover P5B

A Rover P5B in burgundy
castleclassiccars.co.uk

You can't talk about the Rover V8 engine without mentioning the very first car that it found a home in; the Rover P5B. Interestingly, the P5 predates the Mercedes CLS by about 50 years in being called a coupe despite having four doors.

A Rover P5B in black
thecourier.co.uk

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The P5B Coupe was famously owned by Queen Elizabeth, and it was actually her own personal car that wasn't chauffeur-driven. The Rover V8 in the P5B displaced 3.5 liters, giving a total of 160 hp. Despite the lowly power output, it actually pulled surprisingly well, and the gas mileage was pretty good too, even by objective standards.

8 TVR Chimaera

Front 3/4 view of a turquoise Chimaera
wikipedia.org

One of the most loyal customers of the Rover V8 engine is British sports carmaker TVR. The engine originally first appeared on the wedge-shaped Tasmin, and it powered quite a few of their succeeding models, including the Chimaera.

The rear of a silver Chimaera
via dgsportscars.com

Built from 1992 to 2003, the Chimaera exclusively used the Rover V8, as it came before the time when TVR switched to their own in-house engines. The smallest one was a 4.0 liter with 240 hp, but it went all the way up to a 5.0 liter with 340 hp. The latter allowed for 0-60 in 4.1 seconds, which is fast even by today's standards.

7 Range Rover (P38)

Truth be told, the Range Rover Classic also received the Rover V8, in the famous 3.5-liter capacity. But, the engine soldiered on in the next generation of the iconic luxury SUV, which arrived in 1994.

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For the new P38 Range Rover, the Rover V8 was the only gasoline engine available. A 4.0 liter or 4.6-liter version was offered to customers, developing 188 hp and 218 hp, respectively. That may not seem all that powerful for a modern SUV, but it didn't give the Range any trouble, as it had no problem coping with treacherous off-road conditions that its rivals were simply too scared to even look at.

6 Rover SD1

British Leyland isn't exactly known for producing cars with especially good build quality, or particularly good dynamics, or even design. Arriving in 1977, the Rover SD1 completely changed that, and it was quickly voted European Car of The Year of 1977, and it's easy to see why.

A lot of people agree that this is the best car to ever have the iconic Rover V8. In this application, it displaced 3.5 liters and gave 155 hp total, which gave the SD1 some pretty good acceleration. It was also pretty good to drive, but the fit and finish still weren't the greatest. When it comes to SD1s on the used market, the 3.5 V8 is definitely the one everyone's after.

5 Morgan Plus 8

A Morgan Plus 8 in green
car.info

Even by boutique sports car manufacturer standards, Morgan still stands out, to say the least. They still use wood in their chassis construction, and their cars don't exactly follow a modern design formula, looking back at classic British automobiles for inspiration instead.

A Morgan Plus 8 in red
car.info

The Plus 8 recently went out of production, though the last model that came out in 2018 was broadly the same as the one that came out in 1969. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the Plus 8 used the Rover V8. However, it only made a puny 190 hp, meaning the Plus 8 could barely trundle its way to a top speed of 125 mph, which was off the pace of even some hot hatchbacks at the time. Like these cars, despite being expensive, it was rather slow.

4 TVR Tasmin

The front of a blue Tasmin
wikipedia.org

Introduced in 1979, the Tasmin was certainly a different take on the TVR formula. Preceding models were tiny and rather rounded on the outside, but the Tasmin was way bigger and adopted a wedge shape, kickstarting TVR's famous Wedge era.

The rear of a blue Tasmin convertible
via wikipedia.org

The truth is, the Tasmin could be specified with several different powertrains, including Ford's crown jewel engine in Europe; the Cologne V6. From 1983 to 1989, the Tasmin was offered with the 3.5-liter Rover V8, though it dropped the "Tasmin" part of the name, going by just the 350i. Much like the Morgan Plus 8, the engine made 190 hp in the Tasmin as well, with a 6.3-second sprint to 60 mph and a top speed of 130.

3 Marcos Mantis

The original Marcos Mantis on the move
wikipedia.org

Not many people outside of the UK have ever heard of Marcos. They were a sports car manufacturer, and in a lot of ways, they exhibited a lot of similarities to TVR; their cars looked ridiculous to a lot of eyes, and they were very fast without putting in that much effort.

Front 3/4 view of the original Marcos Mantis
netcarhow.blogspot.com

One of their most polarizing-looking cars is undoubtedly the Mantis. The Mantis name was actually used on two different cars built by the company, but it's the older version that used the Rover V8. Very little is known about the Mantis, other than the fact that the Rover V8 did displace 3.5 liters, and it was purchased for a surprisingly low price.

2 Land Rover Discovery

Front 3/4 view of a Land Rover Discovery I
motoringresearch.com

In the 1980s, Land Rover had a discovery (pun totally intended) — they needed a car to take on the family SUV segment. They decided to fuse together their two polar opposite models; the luxurious Range Rover and the strictly utilitarian Defender, resulting in the Discovery.

Modified Discovery II offroading
autocar.co.uk

Even though the Discovery used most of the same hardware as the Range Rover, cost-cutting measures meant it had a much lower base price, with the intention of appealing to a broader audience, and the gamble definitely paid off. Several different engines powered the earliest Discovery models, including the Rover V8, which was available as a 3.5, 3.9, or 4.0-liter.

1 Bowler Wildcat

A Wildcat offroading
vistapointe.net

So far, the only car in history that made Richard Hammond proclaim loudly that he is a "driving God." The Bowler Wildcat was an evolution of the Bowler Tomcat, another crazy off-road-focused SUV. From any aspect, this big chunky off-roader is pure insanity.

A Wildcat catching some air
carsbase.com

Contrary to popular belief, the Wildcat isn't actually based on the Land Rover Defender. It borrows a pretty good selection of Defender parts, but it sits on its own bespoke tubular spaceframe chassis, and it uses beam axles from the Discovery. The fiberglass hood hid the Rover V8 engine, but it was also fused with TVR parts, totaling a respectable 325 hp.

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