The V6 is the perennial ‘middle engine’ of the car world. They’re more characterful than ubiquitous four-cylinder engines, but lack the prestige of the larger ‘vee’ engines. Interesting but at the same time not inspiring. The V6 goes around doing its business with a sort of earnest effectiveness, wholeheartedly giving its all, no matter what application it is being used for.
However, those six cylinders and their inherent smoothness and relative compactness make them a decent choice for a high-performance engine. In performance applications, the V6 has frequently speed-dated the turbocharger in order to exploit easy power gains, and this sort of ‘aftermarket-from-the-factory’ vibe has become an important characteristic of performance V6s.
If we look at a few turbocharged performance cars, we can see that their impact, and the notoriety they possess is in part due to their V6s.
The Buick GNX with its single turbo V6, was one of the most famous automotive disruptors to ever emerge from America’s domestic automobile industry. Using anything less than a V8 for a performance car was unheard of at the time, but with its McLaren-developed turbo V6 the GNX could run the quarter mile faster than a Ferrari F40, and subsequently became an instant hit. Buick capitalized on the distinctive whooshing sound of the V6, and its similarity to that of Star Wars villain Darth Vader with an ad campaign that tempted potential buyers to ‘come to the dark side’.
The Jaguar XJ220 is another V6 adopter that, unlike the Buick, has battled with its twin-turbo V6 identity for the majority of its existence. A global recession in the 1990s forced Jaguar to renege on using a huge V12 for its beautiful supercar. Instead Jaguar took the 3.0 Litre V6 from the MG Metro 6R4 Group B rally car, bored it to 3.5 Litres, and fitted it with two turbochargers for added zest.
The XJ220’s diminutive V6 churned out 542bhp, which was enough to push the XJ220 to 213mph and the title of the world’s fastest car, but the loss of the promised V12 affected the XJ220 greatly. Only recently has the madcap V6 been accepted as one of the XJ220’s many charms.
The Noble M12/M400 also embraced a twin turbo V6, which was donated from a Ford Mondeo, and is all the greater for it. These Nobles make an ugly, utilitarian sound, which is broken up by the typical, but entirely organic whooshes and chirps that are so forced in many modern turbocharged cars. The engine bays of Nobles are not beautiful works of art, but instead a complex plumbing network of blue pipes and hoses. It seems to say: ‘the engine is in there somewhere, but this car is far too focused to consider vanity’, and it gives them a real business first spirit, again, with the pungent odour of skunkworks emanating from the whole thing.
Since then, however, the turbocharged V6 has become far more widely adopted. From McLaren, to Audi, to Honda and Porsche, the turbo V6 has now been adopted by a wide-range of manufacturers, with, unfortunately, a rather predictable set of specifications. Three to four litres, two turbochargers, and power rarely exceeding 600bhp. In becoming more widely adopted, turbo V6s have become sanitised, mainstream, and have lost their outsider status.
Even in their applications in Formula 1, the summit of motorsport, have been asinine and boring. They aren’t even referred to as engines, but instead they are ‘power units’, and that tells you all you need to know.
With tightening regulations and the need for efficiency, it is doubtful if we’ll ever see a churning, quirky, roughshod performance V6 ever again.
Kerbside 