12 Best Car Engines Currently In Production Today

While the electric car is gaining ground and market share with each passing year, the venerable internal combustion engine is not dead yet. It has a long history and is one of the most important inventions of the 19th Century. Massive efforts in research and development have been poured into improving the ICE over the decades, leaving us with an engine that is fundamentally similar to the earliest models, but drastically different in almost every technical aspect. Thus, the modern engine is a far cry from its ancestors, but so much better in every way.

Many companies have signaled their intention to phase out gasoline and diesel-powered engines, but that is still many years off in the future. We will still have combustion engines for at least the short-term and most automakers are not cutting production just yet. The technical prowess of modern engineers is on display on many engine models, and the ability to extract increasing power and efficiency from hunks of iron and aluminum is an impressive feat. So, before we read a eulogy on the gasoline-powered engine, here's a look at 12 of the best of them still in production right now.

The all-new Mazda inline-6 is not yet available for sale, but is in production to be installed in cars to be delivered for the 2024 model year. This block is a departure from Mazda's long history of developing and perfecting its range of 4-cylinder engines during its recent history, but will surely put the brand up a notch in terms of offering a competitive product.

The new engine is a longitudinally-mounted 3.3-liter turbocharged inline-6 with a power rating of 340 horsepower and 369 ft-lb of torque in the S trim level. Considering Mazda has been equipping its largest vehicle, the CX-9, for many years with a 2.5-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder, this engine will be a substantial upgrade and power the CX-9 replacement, the CX-90. Power delivery will be augmented by Mazda's M Hybrid mild hybrid drive system that supplements the engine with electric power, but will be increased from 24-volt to 48-volt for the upcoming SUV.

This engine shows that the company wants to attract premium buyers by delivering the kind of performance typical of a Mercedes or BMW, but at a more affordable price. With Mazda's latest upscale interiors and matching quality, this should be a big hit in the upcoming year.

Dodge's HEMI brand of V8 engines built with hemispherical combustion chambers has a history that stretches back to the post-war period when every American automaker sought to have an innovation that would make its cars more appealing than the competition. While the legendary 426 HEMI and other engines of the muscle car heyday of the 1960s will forever be revered, the modern HEMI is the king of power. However, this one is not long for this world as production will end soon, with Stellantis focusing on likely more powerful, yet quieter electric propulsion for future muscle cars.

With the benefit of modern technology and probably a lack of rational decisions by managers at Dodge, the current Supercharged 6.2L HEMI engine dwarfs the classics of the '60s in terms of power output. For example, the most powerful Dodge of the muscle car era was the 1970 Plymouth 'Cuda with the 426 HEMI, which made 425 horsepower from the factory. The current 6.2-liter HEMI nearly doubles that at a neck-breaking 807, and Dodge recently even released a run of 100 of 7.0-liter "Helliphant" HEMIs making an astonishing 1,000 horsepower. There is a lot of technology packed into the block and the whining supercharger is an intoxicating sound, but the only thing that matters is that it is a brute and drivers must be very careful because this one can cause a car to be wrapped around a telephone pole before you can even process what happened.

This engine is notable for just how it pushes the envelope in every way possible. It has the most cylinders which means it also has the most valves, and it is made on a W-style block that keeps it from being 12 miles long like the old Cadillac V16, and it pushes more than 1,000 horsepower to all four wheels of the Bugatti Chiron and its predecessor, the Veyron.

Following in the footsteps of Bugatti founder Ettore Bugatti, who created some of the most advanced and utterly stunning vehicles of the pre-war period, the current owner Volkswagen created this incredible engine as a fitting tribute and successor to those early machines. Using the innovative technology to create the compact VM VR6 engine, which allowed a 6-cylinder block to fit into a space reserved for a 4-cylinder, VW managed to increase the cylinder count to 16 without making it so large as to be more appropriate for a tank than a supercar. To get power high enough to send the car into Ludicrous Speed, the W16 was built with four camshafts operating 64 valves along with four turbochargers.

The W16 is the pinnacle of supercar engine manufacturing and each one is hand-built in Molsheim, France, home of the original Bugatti factory. The original W16 made reached its goal of 1,000 horsepower when put into production, and has since been upgraded to push the Chiron along with a monstrous 1,500.

Dieselgate effectively ended the ability of VW to sell diesel passenger cars in the U.S., but they are still available in the Old World. Among these engines is the one found in the MK VIII Golf GTD. Much like the Golf GTi many of us are familiar with, the GTD is a high-performance model, but it runs on diesel.

This mill is a VW oil burner equipped with the long-running VW TDI setup, but this engine is all-new as of 2018. When installed into the GTD, it makes a respectable 197 horsepower, but the torque rating of 295 ft-lb is incredible. That much torque in this small car can be felt as it can make it jump off the line in a hurry. For comparison, the gasoline-burning GTi is rated at 272 ft-lb, and that difference may be more significant than you think. As a result, the GTD is quick off the line and punchy, despite having a somewhat heavy engine up front.

With the EVO diesel, VW has applied some modern engineering improvements to reduce its emission — in real tests without the cheating — to levels comparable to clean-burning gasoline engines while boosting power output and efficiency. While those in the States won't be having any opportunities to own this, some lucky Europeans can have it all with an efficient small car with the kind of low-end grunt that makes driving fun.

Continuing a long tradition of delivering lots of raw power in a highly refined package, the BMW M 4.4-liter V8 produces more than 600 horsepower through high-tech engine building and some of the most advanced engine components ever made. It is impressive, but it also comes at a premium.

The most recent iteration of the BMW 4.4-liter V8 from the company's high-performance M division is a clean sheet design that incorporates BMW's already advanced features with several new ones. Some upgrades include new internals, turbocharger upgrades, and an electric VANOS (variable valve timing) system, a first for BMW as the old one is hydraulically actuated from engine oil pressure. The most significant new feature is a 48-volt mild hybrid system. While many engines with this type of setup integrate the electric motor into the crankshaft, the motor is a part of the transmission itself and will improve the start/stop function.

This BMW engine is likely to be the last V8 engine manufactured by BMW as Euro7 emissions compliance will likely dictate smaller engines and more electrics in the future. The more stringent emissions requirements are also why it appears that this engine will also be used in models outside of the M range, but in a detuned state, although that is not confirmed.

Despite being in production for nearly 60 years, Porsche has retained the same basic shape, layout, and engine design of its flagship 911 sports car. Rear-engine car designs are, on the surface, inherently flawed and undesirable. However, Porsche has managed to capitalize on this layout to extract its benefits, creating one of the best-handling and engaging cars ever built. Porsche's engineering also extracts as much advantage as possible from its engine layout, the boxer, also known as a horizontally opposed piston engine. The center of gravity is inherently lower than any other engine design and that contributes greatly to good handling characteristics.

While Porsche has worked to perfect its flat-6 boxer engine through the years, it has done so without adding cylinders nor has it significantly increased displacement. Despite keeping its size limited to under four liters as of the time of writing, Porsche has created many cars with more power than plenty of big American V8s that go way over the 5.0-liter mark.

The current Porsche 4.0-liter boxer is available in the 911 GT3 RS making 518 horsepower. This engine makes this much power most impressively without the use of forced induction, instead opting for highly advanced engineering and state-of-the-art materials. Its internals are forged from high-strength steel and titanium and the cylinders are plasma-coated, allowing for extremely quick throttle response and overall power delivery.