Ford has no trouble muscling its way onto this year’s list with a 526-hp naturally aspirated 5.2L bruiser of a V-8 in the new Shelby GT350 Mustang.
With its heralded flat-plane crankshaft and weight-reducing Plasma Transfer Wire Arc cylinder coating, Ford’s “Voodoo” V-8 casts a spell on WardsAuto editors by demonstrating that a redline of 8,250 rpm is not something to fear but embrace.
Derived from the 5.0L “Coyote” V-8 that won Wards 10 Best Engines trophies in 2011 and 2012, the 5.2L, with old-school port fuel injection, 6-speed manual transmission and using premium fuel, reaches the 100 hp/L threshold, which is extremely difficult for a big engine without forced induction.
Truly suited for hammering around the track, the GT350’s engine is described as “positively demonic” by a Mustang loyalist intoxicated by the brash exhaust note and subtle but soothing shimmy at idle.
The Voodoo engine does everything well, from puttering around town to frightening small animals. WardsAuto editors consider it the pinnacle of internal-combustion engineering.
