These are the greatest naturally aspirated V8s ever, as voted by you

This week we asked our readers possibly the most open-ended question of the lot: which is the greatest naturally aspirated V8 of all time? As usual, the comments section was flowing with brilliant answers and logic for why you lot chose what you chose. 

Let’s kick straight off with Paul Esthete: “Flat plane, I’ll go with the 360 Challenge Stradale. The 40-valve V8 is a masterpiece and ready for immediate consumption. Cross plane, it’s got to be the 6.2 from AMG. It’s intoxicating, no matter which car it’s in. A sound mind would retain the SLS Black Series with the 622bhp version of it, but I’d rather have the R63.” 

Tyas Moerti provided more support for Merc’s skunkworks division: “SLS Black, no argument. The 6.2-litre cross-plane V8 is synonymous with legginess but laziness, yet the Black revs to 8,000rpm with the alacrity of a demented bat out of hell. It sounds like Valhalla has started preparing for Ragnarok, and it's draped in the greatest design Mercedes has ever made.”

Let’s continue the European leg with TBP’s comment: “The 8C. It has a Ferrari V8 with Alfa Romeo looks. As an emotional package, it's unbeatable.”

Speaking of Ferrari V8s, Karol Jalowy’s suggestion has one too: “The fifth-generation Maserati Quattroporte. It’s not the most reliable engine and the transmission is quite bad, but just listen to this cross-plane cranked luxury saloon and you’re going to love it.”

Peterson chose to agree: “The unapologetic noise of the power plant in a fifth-gen Quattroporte Sport GTS cannot be beaten. No matter where that Ferrari engine is, the result is spectacular.”

One more European suggestion before we move on to the U.S. of A, we think. J Vale has the perfect answer, and we’re surprised it wasn’t mentioned more: “I’ll never forget my 4.2-litre V8 B7 RS4. Not the greatest, but not far from it. The noise was like nothing else, as evidenced by the ‘Unique sound’ ad Audi launched.”

Right, time to consider some options clad in stars and stripes. Andrew Robinson says: “First, rule out cars that would be better with a turbo (so that’s everything after 1980 off the list). Then cross off everything where you’d pick a V10 or V12 variant. That leaves you with American muscle cars, and you can rule those out because they would all be cooler if they were hot rods with a massive supercharger sticking through the bonnet… with one exception.

“A car that everyone dreamed of owning. One that’s unique and too old for a turbo and too American to be anything other than a V8. It’s a legendary hot rod built by the master, George Barris, but one that couldn’t have a supercharger because it’s supposed to be powered by atomic batteries. The greatest naturally aspirated V8-powered car of all time is the 1966 Batmobile.”

Here’s another left-field choice from Iceberg: “If you look at the model where the car and the V8 engine had the greatest impact, it would likely be the 1932 Ford. It was the first real mass-market car with a V8 as an option, and it set the stage for decades for the V8 to be the top engine choice for most automotive categories.”

Hard to argue with that, but consider Richard Seddon’s comment as an attempt: “The Mustang is the greatest V8 car produced. The greatest V8 in a Mustang is the Coyote. The best Coyote is in the Dark Horse. But if you want to add a bit of European exoticness to it, then I offer up the previous generation Shelby GT350R and its flat-plane crank Voodoo wailer.”

Let’s finish up with a pair of classic American metal, starting with Alex Last’s vote: “For me, it’s got to be the Ford Falcon XY GTHO. It’s an absolute legend powered by that 351 Cleveland V8 and was a success on the track. Some examples have even sold for over a million Australian dollars.”

Meanwhile, Mr T-Bird said: “I am going to go with the one sitting in my garage: a 1962 Ford Thunderbird with a 390FE V8. Does it behave like a ‘60s land yacht in corners? You bet. Is it a fun boulevard cruiser? Absolutely. It might not be the fastest, but it has room for four and it looks like a spaceship.”

On second thoughts, we’ll leave you with one final opinion from Gandubilli Siddarth: “Why only Europe and America? What sin has the Lexus LC500 committed? With one of the last bastions of naturally aspirated V8s - and the only modern one from Japan - the LC is still one of the most stunning-looking cars on sale today too.”