Top 5 Car Engines Shared Between Models

Our man Gearhead talks through his top interchange engines.
If there's one thing that's guaranteed to light an enthusiast's hair on fire, it's a purpose-built engine that doesn't appear in any other car.

Car guys like me will geek out for hours about the Porsche Carrera GT's 5.7-liter V10, for example, or any number of air-cooled Porsche 911 engines. Lamborghini's distinguished line of V12s also comes to mind. If you know cars, you're no doubt thinking of other candidates, too.

But there's a flip side to that coin. Just because an engine is shared between multiple models doesn't mean it's a dud. In fact, some of the greatest engines ever have enjoyed multiple applications, because if something's that great, why not spread the love around?

With that in mind, I racked my brain -- or what's left of it at this point -- and came up with my personal Top 5 engines that have known more than one master. There are a lot of illustrious motors out there fitting that description, so it wasn't easy to whittle 'em down. Check it out and tell me what you think.

Dodge Viper V10

When Dodge brought out the Viper exotic sports car back in the early '90s, they needed something that would shock the world. The radical styling was almost enough in itself, but the engineering team chipped in with an 8.0-liter V10 that made an even 400 horsepower -- heady output for the day. Never mind that it sounded like a UPS truck; the Viper V10 was the stuff of dreams, and it helped make the car a legend virtually overnight.

Since then, the V10 has gone through a few iterations, now displacing 8.4 liters and pumping out a just-plain-silly 640 horsepower at last count. But that's not all; it has also been borrowed by two other vehicles for limited-production use. The first, Dodge's gonzo Ram SRT-10 full-size pickup truck, used an 8.3-liter version of the massive motor that was good for a truck-record 154 mph. The second, the Bristol Fighter, was an exotic British sports car that reportedly sold just 13 copies.

BMW S54 Inline-6

So many great straight-sixes have come out of BMW's factories over the years, but for my money, the 3.2-liter S54 is the greatest of them all. It debuted in 2001, appearing simultaneously in the E46 M3 and the Z3 M Roadster and Coupe. The S54 was limited to 315 hp in the latter pair, but it cranked out a full 333 hp in the M3.

With a sky-high fuel cutoff at 8,400 rpm, this engine loved to rev, yet it also had muscular midrange response that always felt like enough. The sound was nearly as thrilling, a metallic banshee wail that got more and more frantic as redline approached.

BMW gave the S54 new life when the 330-hp Z4 M Roadster and Coupe debuted in 2006, but it was brief, as both models bid adieu in 2008. Even today, I still cruise the classifieds looking for all of the above models. It's on my engine bucket list, for sure.

Chevrolet LS7 V8

When the C6 Corvette Z06 bowed for the 2006 model year, it came with a great big surprise under the hood. Displacing a full 7.0 liters, the LS7 was the biggest small-block V8 that GM had ever installed in a factory model. Unlike most small-blocks, the LS7 had an affinity for redline, making it ferociously fun when driven to its full potential. The noises were sublime, and 60 mph was yours in less than 4 seconds via the 6-speed manual transmission -- no automatic was offered.

Now that the C7 Corvette Z06 has come out with its supercharged 6.2-liter V8, it looks like forced induction will carry the day going forward. But if you're like me, you know there's no replacement for displacement. Plain and simple, the LS7 is the best small-block V8 there ever was.

Thankfully, the C6 Z06 team wasn't a selfish bunch. The LS7 has turned up in all kinds of places since it appeared, including the Corvette 427 Convertible (basically a Z06 drop-top), the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28, the Hennessey Venom GT supercar and even a helicopter.

Mercedes-Benz M156 V8

If you don't think Mercedes-Benz and NASCAR belong in the same sentence, you haven't driven one of the cars from the "AMG 63" series. Ranging from approximately 450 to 580 hp, and technically displacing 6.2 liters, the M156 V8 was the first engine to be developed from start to finish by the performance wizards at AMG. You can certainly feel that hand-built touch. There's endless thrust throughout the operating range, and the sound is astonishing -- like a Detroit muscle car with impeccable manners. It's impossibly well-behaved for such a beastly engine, but those noises betray its animal nature. Pity that Mercedes never saw fit to pair it with a manual transmission; otherwise, the M156 is a perfect 10.

What's particularly awesome about the M156 is that it was made available across most of the Mercedes lineup, from the humble C-Class to the exotic SLS AMG sports car. Turbocharged V8s have since taken its place, but only recently, so there are plenty of low-mileage used M156 cars out there for the taking.

Volkswagen/Audi 2.0T Inline-4

You don't always need huge horsepower to have a good time. It took me decades to realize that, and the VW/Audi "2.0T" turbocharged 4-cylinder engine helped me see the light. There are actually a bunch of slightly different engines that fall under this heading, but you know what I'm talking about, right? Volkswagen has been putting a 2.0T in the GTI for about a decade, to take one example, and Audi offers a similar 2.0T in seemingly everything it makes. Whatever the setting, this engine serves up an amazing blend of refinement, fuel economy and smooth, spirited acceleration.

If there's a better all-around engine that you can have brand-new in the $25,000 price bracket or thereabouts, I haven't met it.

What'd I Forget?

A lot, I'm sure. My wife's sure, too. Did any of your favorites get unfairly excluded? Let's have it out in the comments.

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