10 Cars With Amazing Engines For Under £10,000

The future of the internal combustion engine is very unclear at the moment, and nobody really knows how long it’ll be around with new cars. One thing is thankfully certain, though – there are a huge number of cars with astonishing engines already out there.

You don’t have to spend gazillions of pounds on some sort of highly impractical supercar to get one of the greats – there was a time when some truly brilliant engines were fitted to plenty of more attainable hot hatches, saloons and sports cars. Lots of these are even more tempting on the used market, so we’ve picked out 10 cars with some of the greatest engines ever that you should be able to pick up for under £10,000.

Honda Civic Type R EP3 (K20)

Let’s kick off with an inline-four, an engine configuration often overlooked for being a bit… functional. A bit boring. Not so for the 197bhp, 2.0-litre ‘K20’ unit that powered the second-generation Honda Civic Type R, though.

Its screaming redline, sitting north of 8000rpm, isn’t even the most impressive bit – that’d be the VTEC, which kicks in (yo) at around 6k, the engine switching to a more aggressive cam profile to make max power. It helps that the car it’s installed in is also one of the most beautifully balanced hot hatches of the 21st century. With even ropey ones starting at around £3500, a £10k budget should leave you plenty of room to find a good’un.

Subaru Impreza WRX STI (EJ20)

Prefer your four cylinders to be horizontally opposed, turbocharged, and accompanied by a burbly exhaust note that could transport you straight to a cold Welsh forest circa 1995? What else could you pick but a Subaru Impreza WRX STI?

The 2.5-litre EJ25 flat-four that found its way into Euro-spec cars is good and all, but we’d recommend tracking down a JDM import with the smaller 2.0-litre EJ20. Don’t be put off by the lower displacement – it’s a lighter, stronger engine with way more tuning potential, which is why, along with its comparative scarcity in Europe, cars fitted with it tend to start towards the upper end of our budget.

Volvo 850 R (B5234)

It may be long buried in the company’s laid-back modern era, but Volvo’s always had a bit of a wild streak, and that was no more apparent than in the 850 T5-R, or its later, more common counterpart, the 850R.

Every 850 had a five-cylinder engine – that’s what the ‘5’ in the name means. In the R, though, it was a warbly 2.3-litre turbocharged monster, sending 237bhp through the front wheels. Granted, that meant it was never the most dynamically sorted thing – especially in the case of the non-LSD equipped automatic you’ll likely find for under £10k – but that engine’s difficult to argue with. Track down a mega-boxy estate for peak Volvoness.

Porsche Boxster 986 (M96)

There simply had to be some sort of flat-six Porsche on this list, but getting a 911 for four figures is getting increasingly tricky. Enter the original Boxster, which used the same basic M96 engine as its 996 contemporary. With power ranging from 201bhp in the earliest 2.5-litre cars to 254bhp in the later 3.2-litre Boxster S, this engine’s really all about the howl it makes right behind your head as it soars towards 7000rpm.

The rest of the car’s not half bad either – Porsche, as it turns out, knows how to make a sports car handle. Prices start temptingly low at around £3500, with the hotter S kicking off at about £6000. It’s always worth tracking one down that’s had a preventative fix done on the dreaded IMS bearing, though, or budgeting a bit to have it done yourself.

Alfa Romeo 147 GTA (Busso V6)

Like the 850 R, the Alfa Romeo 147 GTA is a car with an engine that writes cheques its front-wheel drive chassis can’t really cash. What an engine it is, though – very few V6s have sounded as glorious or lived as long as Alfa’s Busso V6. Named after its designer, Giuseppe Busso, it was first used in 1979.

In the 147 GTA, though, it was in its final form – 3.2 litres and 247bhp, all in a hatchback the size of a Ford Focus. They start at the upper end of our budget, as do the 156 GTA saloon and estate that shared the same spec of engine. It’s still a relatively small price for an engine that wouldn’t feel out of place in something far more exotic, though, and the relatively easy fitment of a Q2 limited-slip diff can help cure the GTA’s wayward handling, too.

Lexus IS300 (2JZ)

We’ve had a flat-six and a V6, so naturally, there had to be a straight-six too, right? Absolutely right. And there are few straight-sixes as legendary as Toyota’s 2JZ. Your chance to get a twin-turbo Supra in budget is long gone, but versions of the 3.0-litre 2JZ found their way into plenty of other cars.

The original Lexus IS300, for instance, featured it in naturally aspirated 2JZ-GE guise, where it still made a healthy 217bhp as standard. Combine that with a sweet rear-drive chassis, handsomely understated saloon and SportCross estate bodies, and general Toyota dependability, and you might be surprised to find IS300s for as little as £3000. The only big downside? In the UK, the IS300 was auto-only.

BMW M3 E46 (S54)

Yes, you’ll need to be patient and potentially do some haggling to find a four-figure E46 BMW M3 these days, and it’ll probably be the least desirable spec, i.e. an SMG-equipped convertible. It’s still just about possible, though, so we couldn’t not include it on this list.

The 3.2-litre S54 is a lesson in how to do a straight-six, a rasping 8000rpm symphony with response and power delivery that makes us yearn for the days of natural aspiration being commonplace. With 338bhp on tap, it’s a properly usable thing in the real world, and even that jerky SMG gearbox has some old-school charm to it. We suspect the days of the sub-£10k E46 won’t last much longer, so we reckon you should do it while you can.

Mazda RX-8 (Renesis rotary)

First, the bad news: no, you can’t get a Mazda RX-7 for under ten grand. Not one in any usable condition, anyway. The good news, though, is that you can still get some rear-drive rotary goodness in the shape of its successor, the RX-8.

In fact, plenty of absolute minters fall under the £10k budget, mainly because the RX-8’s well-publicised reputation for burning through oil and destroying apex seals has driven values into the ground. Take that risk, though, and you’ve got a compact little buzzbox of an engine that’ll hit 9000rpm in later six-port guise, all in a beautifully balanced rear-drive chassis. It’s even got four doors. Sort of.

Vauxhall Monaro (LS1)

We end with a couple of V8s, and where better to source one from than the US of A? Never mind that the Vauxhall Monaro was made in Australia and wears a badge from Luton – the General Motors LS V8 under the bonnet is all-American.

The top end of our budget will just about get you into an earlier non-VXR car with the 5.7-litre LS1, sending 328bhp to the back wheels. There’s a reason the LS is so beloved – it’s a big, simple lump of an engine that makes one of the most evocative soundtracks in the automotive world, and it might just make the A66 feel like Route 66. Maybe.

Maserati Quattroporte V (F136)

Look, we’re not saying you should buy a Maserati Quattroporte V for less than £10,000. That’s very much done at your own risk. We’re just saying that you quite comfortably can and that on the days it’s working properly, you’ll be treated to the same 4.3-litre V8 that powered the Ferrari F430.

Here, though, it has a cross-plane crank, giving it a deeper, more operatic sound, and it’s stuffed under the bonnet, and well behind the front axle, of one of the most menacingly cool saloon cars of the 21st century. That engine placement, together with the transaxle gearbox, makes the big QP handle like a car half its size, and the engine is one of the all-time greats. Again, when it’s working.