10 Production Cars That Pack a V10 Engine

How often do you think about cylinder count every time you fire up your car’s engine? But if you’ve ever heard a V10 come to life, you know it’s different. In the hierarchy of internal combustion powerplants across exotic cars, the V10 serves as more than a middle ground between a popular V8 and V12 found in flagship cars across several brands. It has its own unique character. But here’s the thing: not all V10S were built equal. Some were bred for racing, others for daily civility, and a few were just too wild to categorize.

The V10 story began in Formula 1. By the late 1980s, teams like Honda and Renault realized that the 10-cylinder configuration struck the ideal balance between rev range, packaging, and efficiency. It offered the smoothness of a V12 without the weight and frictional losses, and the compactness of a V8 with far better breathing at high rpm.

Through the 1990s and early 2000s, 3.0-liter V10S revved to over 18,000 rpm, defining the sound of the era. That same architecture, 72 to 90-degree V angles, compact crankshafts, and lightweight reciprocating assemblies eventually began to find their way into production cars, creating a generation of engines that combined engineering excellence with emotional reward.

You saw this configuration in everything from race-bred mid-engine supercars to family wagons and even a truck. The V10 era was short-lived but technically brilliant, a showcase of what happens when engineers are given the freedom to chase perfection rather than efficiency. So, with that, here’s looking back at 10 cars that prove why the V10 deserves its own chapter in performance car history.