We Asked ChatGPT What The Best Engine Ever Made Is. Here's What It Said
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As generative artificial intelligence grows in cultural significance and processing power, luminaries from across the tech world have raised concerns. Should tech industry professionals be concerned for their jobs? What are the likely economic impacts? How can responsible programmers implement strong ethical guidelines on technology designed to alter its own code?
SlashGear is interested in the really big questions — does AI have decent taste in cars? Having already confirmed that ChatGPT knows a good motorcycle when it sees one, we upped the ante, asking the robot in residence about the best engine ever made.
Ever one to hedge its bets, ChatGPT offered a list of five. Like any good gearhead, its favorites covered a range of tastes, representing both no-debate classics like the Porsche flat six and a few left field picks. Here are ChatGPT's five choices for the best car engines ever made, with both its reasoning and our assessment of same.
BMW S65 V8
ChatGPT: "The BMW M3 E92's S65 V8 engine is often considered one of the best engines ever made, with a high-revving design that produced an impressive 414 horsepower."
This particular engine and its specs may be a bit of a reach for best engine, despite ChatGPT's proclamation. The M3 is solid. The V8 version was no different. It united power with precision in a fully satisfying fashion back in the late 2000s and early 2010s. It's all love, particularly for the many delightful S65-powered edge cases, like BMW's 2011 April Fool's Day M3 pickup and SVE's hard-top homage to the great BMW Z-classes of the past.
The M3 has always been at its best as a straight-six with a turbocharger. BMW apparently agrees: the M3 has come with an I6 since 2013, giving the design 11 model years of longevity and counting. The S65 tapped out at eight.
Ferrari 3.9-liter V8
ChatGPT: "The Ferrari 3.9-liter V8 is a turbocharged engine that is used in the Ferrari 488 GTB and Spider. It produces an incredible 661 horsepower and is known for its performance and sound."
Ferrari's turbocharged V8 is on the short list for one of the greatest automakers' best performing engines. The 488 GTB in particular was an easy inclusion in the SlashGear list of the 15 greatest Ferraris of all time, a true road-and-track thoroughbred that could eat miles as readily as checkered flags. The 3.9-liter V8's triumphs weren't limited to a single model number, either. As Ferrari rightly boasts, racers powered by the mighty V8 with various track-appropriate updates have continued to pick up podium finishes well into the 2020s.
The F140 V12 is a more exciting Ferrari engine, but given that it's virtually impossible to obtain let alone drive, ChatGPT may have a point about the 3.9-liter V8.
Honda S2000 F20C
ChatGPT: "The Honda S2000 was known for its high-revving engine, which produced an impressive amount of power for its size. The F20C engine was a 2.0-liter four-cylinder that could rev up to 9,000 RPMs."
The Honda S2000 could be one of the most underrated cars ever built — a sensibly priced, relentlessly reliable roadster that could compete on sheer fun factor with anything contemporary from BMW or Porsche. The high-revving V4 was at the heart of its appeal, tough as a tank with ferocious pickup. The S2000 was one of the great unsung heroes of the 2000s tuner revival, fantastic stock and a perfect platform for gearhead experimentation.
Despite being out of production since 2009, the S2000 is a great deal on the used car market. The brilliant-yet-sensible Honda is rapidly getting pricier, however, so interested buyers should seek out the little roadster that could at maximum speed.
Porsche 911 flat-six
ChatGPT: "The Porsche 911 has been using a flat-six engine for decades, and it has earned a reputation for its power, smoothness, and distinct sound."
The excellence of the 911's flat-six is inarguable, and anyone who says the Porsche flat-six isn't one of the great engine designs is not serious about cars. Flat engines trace their DNA back to Karl Benz himself — the man who invented the car patented the first flat engine design in 1896. Porsche hasn't been in the flat-six business quite that long, but the 911 and its signature engine did celebrate its 60th birthday this year; that's over half a century of conquering podiums and devouring Autobahns. The Porsche flat-six belongs in the dictionary under "classic."
If a driver prefers a thundering roar to Porsche's banshee shriek, seeks low-end might instead of high-rev precision, or simply would like not to spend a gigantic amount of money on a four-wheeled textbook of German engineering, that is entirely their business. Love it or hate it, the 911 and its engine have earned their place as top performers in the automotive history.
Plus, they sound amazing.
Toyota 2JZ-GTE
ChatGPT: "This engine was used in the Toyota Supra and is known for its impressive performance and reliability. It's a turbocharged inline-six engine that has become popular in the aftermarket tuning community."
The 2JZ-GTE does have a history dating back to the 1970s with the Celica coupe. And it is the most suped-up version of the Toyota 2JZ engine in the Supra Turbo.
Sometimes the "conversational" tone of ChatGPT can make a user forget that, fundamentally, it's just a self-searching database of other people's work. In that same vein, ChatGPT opinions on the Internet can also come from "Fast and Furious" movies.
The 2JZ-GTE powered Supra MK4 was a fun if outdated 90s-vintage tuner car. Even its star turn as the late Paul Walker's character's deeply improbable "ten-second car" in the first Fast and Furious film acknowledged the Supra's best point was how easily a good mechanic could turn it into something better.