These Are All The Turbo Cars You Wish Were Naturally Aspirated

Lost a lot of that VTEC character, and gained a whole bunch of weight.

I’m unfortunately shopping for a larger SUV with my wife. I really liked the stupid, predictable, long-history of Toyota’s V6 in the Highlander, an engine that has essentially been around forever and was unflappably reliable. So, the Highlander was top of the list despite not being competitive in a couple other areas. But then they went and swapped it with a 2.4 liter 4 cyl turbo engine which.... has essentially the same power output and the same (or worse in real world) mileage. So.... what’s the point?

It was still an incredible piece of tech, but it was a little disappointing that the 2016 Ford GT went with a twin-turbo EcoBoost V6, instead of staying with the traditional V8s of its predecessors. (289, 427, and 5.4L) It had the performance, just didn’t have the right sound for a GT.

We can’t have this conversation without highlighting the travesty of the Mercedes C63 AMG, a car that gave up the glorious naturally aspirated 6.3L M156 first for the twin turbo V8 and now the depressing 2.0 turbo hybrid.

Is “all of them” an option? If so, I choose that. If not, I’ll go with the C7 Z06. The C6 was a legend, the C7 sounded worse and overheated more. All for a supercharger.

V8 Ferraris, specifically the 488. The 458 was an incredibly beautiful looking and SOUNDING sports car, and the 488 was a step back in both regards. The 458 was the perfect mid-engined sports car. There’s a reason GM engineers were benchmarking the 458 instead a 488 for the C8 Corvette development. The secondhand market agrees as well. The 458 Speciale and 488 Pista prices are about the same.

BMW M5. The last naturally aspirated M5 was a V10, and it was absolutely epic. Yes, it was shockingly unreliable and incredibly thirsty, but it made the M5 an exotic super sedan in a way that nothing else has ever quite replicated. It would have been nice if they could’ve released a 2nd gen V10 that was reliable.

Golf R, back to the VR6.

The Giulia - the 2.0T isn’t the most soulful, and the Quadrifoglio is a bit overkill. There’s gotta be room for something between the two (pay for development from the car reviewer Italian swear jar after it launches).

Toyota Tundra. I think if Toyota had put their focus into creating a new V8 instead of going V6 TT they could’ve still hit the fuel economy and emissions goals. Plus I’m never going to prefer the sound of a V6tt (or 4 cylinder for that matter) over a V8.

CT4 Black wing. An LT1 would make it a great car

*Taycan Turbo looks around in confusion*

This may sound like blasphemy, but I think there is a market for a de-contented, NA 4-cylinder Mustang with maybe 200 hp and priced under $22K.

Any toyota lexus that switched from a bulletproof v8 to a turbocharged v6 also the f150 and Honda accords.