The very thought of a V8-powered car makes most gearheads salivate. Forget inline-four and V6s, the ultimate in muscle car mania has always come V8-powered, and sometimes, even a V10 or V12. Clearly, while there may be a replacement from displacement today, an eight-cylinder engine still occupies most of our car-addled brains, and there are plenty of good examples in the past that prove our train of V8-powered thought.
But then again, not every V8-powered ride is as stellar as we imagine it to be. Some of them can be pretty dreary and dull, if not in power, then in aesthetics, reliability, or ride quality. Other times, it’s the engine itself, and as they say, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. So, here go 10 V8-powered cars that are not good buys today, and were not good buys even when new.
10 Eleventh-Gen Ford Thunderbird: Dreary V8
The eleventh-gen Ford Thunderbird debuted in 2002 with a 3.9-liter V8 taken from the Ford-owned Jaguar at the time, but in the T-bird, it made just 252 horses. Later, it was upgraded to 280 hp, but the Thunderbird remained a bit of a dreary drive, more slow than sporty.
While the retro design touches were good, the T-bird failed to be what it was meant to be, sporty and luxurious. The strangely rounded design also did not appeal to buyers, and by 2005, the T-bird finally laid itself to rest with a muddy legacy because of the lackluster V8-powered eleventh generation.
9 Aston Martin Lagonda: V8 Computer Fail
The Aston Martin Lagonda was designed on the ‘80s model diet of tall drinks and suspicious white powders, looking reed-thin and in an existential crisis, but that was not its main problem. The problem was the array of computer-driven electronics that even NASA could not have put to work.
The 5.3-liter V8 also managed only 280 horsepower and drank fuel like a perpetually thirsty camel. In its 14-year lifespan, only 645 Lagonda were ever sold so don’t get this as a classic, unless you want a white elephant in your garage.
8 Ford F-Series SuperDuty: V8 Engine Issues
From 2003 to 2007, the 6.0-liter turbo-diesel V8 in the Ford F-Series SuperDuty trucks, the F-250 and the F-350, came so bad that the engine makers and Ford went to court over it. From head gasket problems to fuel system failures to defective parts, this has gone down as the worst modern diesel engine in recent history.
Some of the trucks that were brought back to the workshop were so bad that Ford had to entirely replace them, finally ending its engine run with Navistar that somehow escaped any legal proceedings.
7 Corvette 305 "California:" V8 Wet 'Vette
In the ‘70s, the oil crisis together with the new federal emissions basically neutered all muscle and sports cars. While the Mustang was able to reinvent itself, the Corvette suffered. And the most viciously hit was the 1980 model year of the California Corvette that carried a 5.7-liter V8 and made all of 180 horsepower.
In the rest of the states, it made 190 horsepower, and these ‘Vettes basically became the dead albatross around the neck of everyone who bought them.
6 Triumph Stag: A V8 Waste
The 1970 Triumph Stag was a monumental failure in that its 3.0-liter V8 was so sparky, it tended to burn itself down. The timing chains broke in a rather untimely fashion and the aluminum heads also warped. The water pump would decide to leak when it wanted to, adding to the chaos.
It looked good, and there was plenty of chrome for style, but when a car cannot jet enough power and cannot be trusted to run reliably, all cosmetic enhancements are a waste.
5 Chevy SSR: A Lacklustre V8 Hot-Rod
The 2004-introduced Chevy Super Sport Roadster came powered by big V8s. There was a 5.3-liter V8 and a 6.0-liter V8, and then even the LS2 from the Vette. So it sounds like a powerful car indeed, only, with a 0-60 mph run of 7.7 seconds, it was a bit of a slowpoke.
Again, it might have done well had Chevrolet not decided to put a ridiculous price tag on it. Also, remember, there is no such thing as a factory hot rod truck, especially one that does not perform all that much.
4 Bricklin SV1: V8-Powered Disaster
For a car that still receives some love from enthusiasts, the 1975 model of the Bricklin SV1 certainly did not deserve any kind of welcoming joy. In 1974, the car used AMC V8s and made 220 sturdy, reliable horses. By 1975, emission control happened and the new compliant engines were 5.7-liter Ford V8s that only made 175 hp.
This did not make the Bricklin SV1 a good V8-powered car, and there were other examples that actually caught fire, despite the car’s name standing for Safety Vehicle 1.
3 Ferrari Mondial 8: V8-Powered Slowpoke
The Ferrari Mondial 8 is the slowest V8-powered Ferrari ever, so introduced in 1980 with 214 horses only. The almost 3,500-pound weight of the car also kept it slow, sprinting 0-60 mph in 9.5 seconds. Plus, it was not very reliable, for that matter. So it was slow, heavy, unreliable, and to top it all, pricey as well.
The perfect V8-powered recipe for disaster, it did everything badly, with the lovely odor of burning rubber. From the wires, not the tires.
2 Hummer H2: The Abominable V8
The 2003 Hummer H2 came at the best possible time with the worst possible fuel economy, and it was cool for a few years until, suddenly, it was not. The much-talked-about V8 power in it became a villain when the economy tanked and the gas prices went sky high.
A Hummer dealership in California was even burned to the ground by so-called environmentalists because now, its 6.0-liter and 6.3-liter V8 stood for all things bad about America and its crazy thirst for oil. If you want it from the used car lot, better invest in an oil well first.
1 Ford Excursion: A Giant V8 Shell
The Ford Excursion was not a bad car per se, it was simply a "lot" of car. With a 5.4-liter V8 and a 6.8-liter V10, the size of the Excursion made the engines basically burn gasoline like a wildfire in peak summer.
While Ford said that many of its customers needed a vehicle this size, standing 6.5-feet tall and 19-feet long, it did not stop many of the said customers from parking it at the mall to go to the movies or grab a bite. It was frankly too large to be needed and still is today.
Sources: Motorious, Motor1