“There’s no replacement for displacement” my father would often say when referring to newer cars having smaller turbo charged engines. He made it sound like they were cheating by using forced induction to boost their power numbers. He’d say a well made engine doesn’t need all that.
I would get defensive and immediately site the Lincolns from the 70s with their massive 7.5L v8s barely producing 200 horsepower (I do like the Lincolns by the way, they’re absolutely beautiful). But then I would ponder on which cars did it right. Which cars were made well and produced the golden 100:1 power to displacement ratio without cheating? Here’s a few I found. Let me know of others out there!
Honda s2000 has a 2.0L I4 producing 237hp
Scion fr-s has a 2.0L H4 producing 200hp
Ford mustang “dark horse” has a 5.0L v8 producing 500hp
E60 BMW m5 has a 5.0L v10 producing 500hp
Lexus LFA has a 4.8L v10 producing 553hp
Mazda rx-8 squeezed 237hp from a 1.3L rotary engine
Ferrari 458 has a 4.5L v8 producing 562hp
Ferrari 812 Superfast has a 6.5L v12 producing 789hp
Lamborghini Aventador has a 6.5L v12 producing 769hp
by BlastyBeats1