Only a single gas engine made it onto Ward's list of the 10 Best Powertrains: a V8.

      Caleb Jacobs

      The most significant car news and reviews, straight to the point.

      Subscribe to our free daily newsletter that delivers the essential stories to you every weekday.

      We have reached a stage where electrification is ubiquitous in the automotive industry. It has been a frequent topic of discussion, with many asserting that both our daily commute vehicles and high-performance cars would feature battery assistance or be completely battery-operated, and they were correct. At least primarily correct, as nine out of ten powertrains on Wards Auto’s Best Engines and Propulsion Systems list are electrified in some capacity. The Chevy Corvette ZR1’s LT7 V8 stands as the only pure internal combustion engine on the list, which makes sense.

      Wards has been compiling this list for 31 years, and you don’t need me to explain how drastically the automotive sector has transformed during that time. Until 2020, Wards referred to it as the "10 Best Engines" list but updated the title at the start of the decade to reflect the evolving powertrains being recognized.

      Before I continue rambling, here’s the complete list of winners:

      - BMW M5 – 4.4L Turbocharged V8 PHEV

      - Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 – 5.5L twin-turbo V8

      - Dodge Charger Daytona – Electric Propulsion System

      - Ford F-150 – 3.5L Turbocharged V6 HEV (2024 returning winner)

      - Honda Civic Hybrid – 2.0L I4 HEV (2024 returning winner)

      - Hyundai Ioniq 9 – Electric Propulsion System

      - Lexus LX 600 – 3.4L Turbocharged V6 HEV

      - Lucid Gravity – Electric Propulsion System

      - Mercedes-AMG E53 – 3.0L Turbocharged I6 PHEV

      - Nissan Leaf – Electric Propulsion System

      Clearly, some hybrids feature robust gasoline engines handling much of the workload. Among them, two returning champions are the Honda Civic Hybrid and the Ford F-150 Powerboost. The Honda has garnered significant praise on our site, where it was named our Best Car of 2024.

      It’s crucial to note that Wards does not rank its winners. The vehicles listed above are simply in alphabetical order. Nevertheless, I doubt anyone would choose the Nissan Leaf over the ZR1, no matter how commendable it is.

      The Corvette’s 5.5-liter V8 is a powerhouse in every possible way. It utilizes a flat-plane crank design and boasts the largest twin-turbochargers ever used in a production vehicle (both 76-millimeter units, in case you were wondering). It produces 1,064 horsepower and 828 lb-ft of torque without any assistance from a lithium-ion battery pack.

      As Dustin Gardner, the LT7’s Assistant Chief Engineer, explained to me last year, every aspect of the Corvette’s legacy contributed to the development of this engine.

      “I’ve been working on these [LT6 and LT7] engines—the Gemini twins, as we refer to them—for over seven years now. It has always been part of the plan. The C8 architecture was designed to support this. The LT6, due to its height, could never be placed in the front, and the LT7, because of its width... with this level of power and torque, you need a specific chassis to handle it. You can’t effectively utilize 1,000 hp in a front-engine car.”

      All that effort is yielding impressive results, both in terms of hardware and sub-seven-minute Nurburgring lap times. It's striking to realize that no other gas-only engine made this list, but instead of being disappointed, I'm choosing to be optimistic about manufacturers continuing to invest in high-powered gasoline engines while they can.

      Have a tip or question for the author? Reach out to them directly: [email protected]