My 6.0 V8 Monaro certainly sounds great. I heard a 3.5 V8 Range Rover Classic in work, the V8 burbling away and the carburettor sound when revved was fantastic.
I really wish mine sounded like these. Sadly modern V8s lose much of the raw sound that makes V8s well, V8s. I think it’s the turbos on mine that are ruining the sound, despite a sports exhaust. I’ve just realised that I have another V8, one that’s been sitting for years in my Dad’s workshop. It’s a Rover 3.5 litre that was supposed to go into my Scimitar restoration project. No danger of that happening anytime soon sadly.
Still not made it to a V8 of my own, almost bought a W205 C63 2 years ago or so but the dealer was playing silly buggers with my offer (and they eventually sold it for less than my offer..) My folks old 2014 C63 is still one of the best sounding for me, a lovely angry spitfire nature to it. My Audi 5 cylinder can't compete, maybe an AMG is on the cards next.
Always had a soft spot for a V8.. I've had a Mercedes SL500, a Lexus ISF and currently have a Lexus GSF. All rather wonderful in their own way.
My contribution to the V8 Love: Owned it up until this summer when I had too good an offer to refuse so ended up selling it. Owned it for 18 months, put 30k miles on it and only lost about a grand on it Having the active exhaust was fantastic, being able to keep the noise down for early morning starts then flip it to track for maximum noise.
How modern are we talking? Of all the things you could call my 2014 C63, I don't think muffled would be up there.
I know the sound of those very well, my neighbour had a silver one, probably the loudest 7am alarm clock ever, but used to make me smile and thank god he didn't work Saturdays! I only had one V8, e92 M3, but preferred the straight six.
The ISF was my daily driver and it was faultless reliability wise. Generally they are bombproof, which is pretty good considering many are now 10+ years old. Mine was a late 2013 model. I don’t even think they have any weak points, but MrFunex can confirm.
I only had mine a year and a half but had no issues. Generally reliable as above but there are a few areas to eyeball Water Pumps can leak on early cars Leaking valley plate is quite common but many will have been sorted Cracked Manifolds mainly on early cars but seems to come with age Those are the main areas but overall pretty solid
Daily driver and occasional track car for me, over 3 years and about 15K miles. I sold it for about £500 less than I paid for it. I had a replacement water pump - some cars had a tiny weep of coolant around the seal of the pump. This was done free of charge. It (and the GSF) have been the cheapest cars to run I have ever owned (bar petrol, but on a run they’re quite capable of exceeding 35mpg). The dealers are outstanding. The cars are great fun. Some people moan about the infotainment being a little dated, but the ISF first came out in 2008, so, of course it is! There are two great YouTube videos comparing the M3, C63 and ISF. One video is on track, the other is on road. Definitely worth a look.
Cheers fellas, I'd thought generally they would be reliable, its a Lexus course it would be. Trying to find my first V8 and the list seems to be mostly Lexus's for me haha, and a Volvo.
It's not subtle, even with the stock exhaust. No cats and a pretty small silencer that probably doesn't have any stuffing left in it, plus an adjustable idle overrun valve for lots of unburnt fuel on the overrun = big grins.
Second V8 here. Probably never not have a V8 somewhere in the fleet, although the rest is made up of an I6 and a 3cyl Yaris GR now M5 was immense, and I'd choose one again in a heart beat if they made an estate, which they don't. So it's RS6 (don't want) or E63s (want), oh and a nice boxer 6 911 4S
