Ferrari 400i, 1985, 63k, £39,995
Once upon a time, the concept of buying a car simply for the shock and awe of its engine was commonplace. Not everything was developed on a private circuit, nor driven to within an inch of its life on the Nurburgring. Delicate sports cars and white-knuckle fast supercars were built to handle; much else was of a make-do variety. Even Ferrari, God-like in its reputation to barely put a foot wrong in recent years, had its period where the occupant of the engine bay was very much the star. Frequently it turned out to be a derivative of the Colombo V12, pioneered in 1947 as 1.5-litre race engine, which, by the time it appeared in the 400i, had swelled to 4.8 litres and acquired fuel injection. This example has to make do with the three-speed auto (Maranello’s first) but it’s still a front-engined, V12 Ferrari for a fiver under £40k. Lovely.
Mercedes ML 63 AMG, 2009, 52k, £14,950
Of course, any classic Ferrari looks cool these days - the Mercedes M-Class though (still 'ML' in our aged heads) is pretty much at the exact opposite end of the imaginary scale, being the sort of thing an impatient mum drives. But thanks to Mercedes’ efforts to wring every penny from AMG’s costly engine development programme, the '63 flagship achieves exactly the kind of engine-to-car ratio we’re talking about. Viewed from 2025, the presence of a 6.2-litre naturally aspirated V8 in family-sized SUV seems outlandish - yet it was almost par for the course two decades ago (lest we forget, the same unit also made it into the R-Class). For less than £15k in lovely-looking condition, the novelty value is amusingly high, although given predictably lusty running costs associated with 517hp, you’d probably need your entire family to buy into the gag.
Alfa Romeo GTV, 2004, 63k, £13,995
One car that needs no additional justification is the Alfa Romeo GTV. It qualifies for this rundown on the basis of it being wrong-wheel drive and therefore never quite living up to its overall billing in the handling stakes. But for many if not most, that hardly matters, because many hours could be satisfyingly filled with a) strolling around the thing in admiration and b) listening to the rise and fall of the revs being coaxed from the melodic Busso V6. This one looks flipping lovely, and in point of fact is said to be the recipient of an Alfaholics chassis kit, which ought to make it helpfully pointier than standard. In raw output terms, it’s the entry-level option listed here - but, by some distance given its price and appearance, also the most desirable.
Dodge Ram SRT-10, 2004, 58k, £49,950
What was the crazier idea: a gigantic V10 in a lightweight roadster, or in a pickup truck? The good folk at Dodge meant that it could be a real-life comparison rather than a bar debate. In those glory days prior to 2008, huge naturally aspirated engines were the order of the day pretty much everywhere (think of the Corvette’s 7.0-litre LS7) so of course the 8.3-litre V10 from the second-gen Viper went in the Ram pickup. The outrageousness is the appeal, but without the same rumble as a V8 - and with a punishing ride to contain the potency - the SRT-10 could never be much more than a fascinating curio. The suspicion that the Viper V10 should remain in the Viper was confirmed by the Ram, basically. Just 10,000 were ever made, a tiny number in truck-crazy America, and one has made it here. Complete with Viper-esque colour combo and spoiler. Oh yeah, and it’s manual - best bring your big boy pants for this one.
BMW M760Li xDrive, 2016, 34k, £41,850
It’s easy to fall one of two ways on the M760Li. Because on the one hand, for a cut-price Rolls-Royce experience, it makes total sense for a 7 Series to use the 6.6-litre V12 - the Ghost of the time employing the same powertrain and chassis architecture. Building V12s and luxury saloon underpinnings aren’t cheap endeavours, after all. But BMW put an ‘M’ badge ahead of ‘760Li’, and that badge brings with it some additional expectations. Despite the best efforts of electro-mechanical anti-roll bars, air suspension and four-wheel steering, a 265kg weight penalty over the V8 750 was inescapable - the M760 was no Panamera rival, sadly. An M badge with the V8 would have been a much better fit; the V12 tried to be everything but even BMW’s best couldn’t quite manage the feat. Still, what a bargain - this is £40k after little more than 30,000 miles.
Audi RS4 Cabriolet (B7), 2007, 72k, £17,995
A manual-only, 8,250rpm, V8 convertible sounds like a dream sports car - sadly the Audi RS4 wasn’t quite what dreams are made of. It’s impossible not to admire Audi’s crazy era of creating memorable engines and stuffing them just about anywhere, but some cars were inevitably better sorted than others. The B7 RS4s with roofs were revelations at the time and icons 20 years on, combining handsome design with a glorious powertrain and deft handling. The cabrio could replicate some of those attributes, but the weight gain exacerbated a relative lack of torque, and it wobbled too much to be properly enjoyable to drive. Nevertheless, Audi persisted, and this car was followed by a RS5 cabrio in much the same mould. Neither was the best location for an exceptional V8, nor Audi’s RS expertise. Still, what a sound - and what an engine bay to boast about.
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