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The 14 Cars That Ignited the Horsepower Wars
January 25, 2023
Ethan Jupp
Today, we take horsepower and outright speed for granted. No supercar is really worth its price tag if it doesn’t have at least 600 horsepower (441kW). Similarly, many performance-oriented electric family cars can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in less than four seconds, whereas, in the past, the ability to achieve sub-four-second times was reserved for the most advanced and exclusive supercars. Progress has been relentless and, in fact, has been happening for quite some time, as evidenced by what has been termed the “horsepower wars.” This has been a race between manufacturers over the past 30 years or so, particularly to outdo their rivals’ performance models in terms of power. The result is a world with 400 hp (294kW) performance hatchbacks, 600 hp (441kW) executive cruisers, and 800 hp (588 kW) hypercars, but there have been a few pivotal turning points along the way. We’ve decided to list them, though only a few executive models have truly stood out in terms of power.
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Lotus Carlton
A car so potent and quick that the legality of that power was debated in Parliament. The Lotus Carlton arguably defined the concept of the “sleeper” β a car that didn’t shout about its performance. It wasn’t exactly subtle, with a gaping front spoiler, stubby wheel arches, and a purposeful rear wing, but even that slight hint of aggression couldn’t prepare you for the sheer power lurking beneath. The twin-turbocharged 3.6-liter straight-six engine, developed by Lotus, produced a staggering 382 hp (280 kW) and gave the Carlton a top speed of 177 mph (285 km/h).
In 1990, when the contemporary BMW M5 and Porsche 911 Turbo had outputs of 315 hp (231 kW) and 320 hp (235 kW) respectively, this was terrifying speed and power. Really, it was the first time we had to ask if that was enough.
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Ford Focus RS
Back in the 1980s and ’90s, performance hatchbacks started with a 1 and had a 2 in it somewhere, and we were all the better for it. The Golf GTI, 205 GTI, Clio Williams, and many others brought genuine performance to the masses. So how did we end up with double the power in the space of 30 years? Gradually, although there were a few key moments, one of which was the 2002 Ford Focus RS. Okay, the Escort Cosworth was more powerful, but that was a special four-wheel-drive version that didn’t really have any rivals or counterparts. The Focus, on the other hand, set the precedent for the horsepower wars in hot hatchbacks that would last for a decade, with its 215 hp (158 kW) turbocharged four-cylinder engine, sending power exclusively to the front wheels, just as a traditional performance hatchback should. It also upgraded its credentials along with the power increase, adding a Quaife torque-biasing limited-slip differential to help manage the power. The RS was a controversial car, remembered for its raw, edgy character.
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Honda S2000
The Honda S2000 wasn’t notable for outright power but was a very important car in the history of horsepower production. Its 2.0-liter F20C four-cylinder, twin-cam engine produced 250 hp (183 kW) and could rev to 9,000 rpm. More importantly, it produced 125 hp (91 kW) per liter… in 1999. That’s a figure that would only be bettered by the 2009 Ferrari 458 Italia and matched only by the 2013 Porsche 911 GT3. It still holds its place among the highest specific output naturally aspirated engines, alongside the Ferrari LaFerrari, Porsche 918 Spyder, GMA T.50, and Aston Martin Valkyrie.
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Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG
But when you want real power, nothing beats displacement… combined with a healthy dose of forced induction. That’s why the Mercedes-Benz CL65 AMG could boast a staggering 612 hp (450 kW) as early as 2003, thanks to its 6.0-liter twin-turbo V12. It was easily the most powerful production (non-limited-run) car in the world. This was supercar-level power at the time and, frankly, it was too much, as evidenced by how hard the traction control had to work every time you tried to put all that power down through the rear wheels. It worked best at high speeds, accelerating from 70 mph to 140 mph with the kind of ferocity any performance car shows when hitting 70 mph.
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Bugatti Veyron
We couldn’t exactly leave it out, could we? The Bugatti Veyron was, and still is, the benchmark for sheer engine power. While its successors have surpassed the 1,600 hp (1,176 kW) mark, the Veyron’s 1,000 hp (735 kW) in 2005 was still a massive statement and sent a message to all performance manufacturers that, when it came to power, all limits were off. It was a huge engineering achievement that cost the VW group so much money that it’s debatable whether even the production of the Chiron (which, admittedly, used a developed version of that engine) has recouped the costs. You’ve seen it thousands of times but it still doesn’t look any less insane: 8.0 liters, 16 cylinders, four turbochargers. Pure madness.
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BMW M5
The BMW M5 has always been at the heart of what we often refer to as the “horsepower wars.” But the race between it and Mercedes to increase power generation over the generations reached a critical point in 2004, when BMW launched the E60. It featured a powerful 5.0-liter naturally aspirated V10 engine; the capacity didn’t increase, two cylinders were added, and astonishingly, the power increased by 100 hp over the E39 it replaced. That was a significant jump, but the headline figure was even more impressive: 507 hp (372 kW). For context, it took the M5 nearly 15 years to add 100 hp (73 kW) in the same way the E60 did with the E39, with the launch of the M5 Competition in 2018 reaching 625 hp (459 kW).
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Audi RS6
However, the biggest step on the road to the new M5 was actually the Audi RS 6 C6. While the Mercedes-AMG E63 had made a pretty good stab at it, Audi delivered the knockout blow. Launched in 2009, the C6 RS 6 housed a 5.2-liter twin-turbo V10, producing no less than 580 hp β a phenomenal figure at the time for a family car. This was the final leap in power in the executive segment, at least for internal combustion engines. All models that followed have topped out at between 570-625 hp (419-459 kW) and not much more. The C6 RS 6 wasn’t a particularly good car, given its two-ton weight and mediocre chassis performance, but it was a legend in the power wars.
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Corvette ZR1
It wasn’t just the Germans who were pushing the power boundaries during this period, and how could we compile a list of horsepower heroes without mentioning our friends across the Atlantic? We thought the C6 Corvette Z06, with its 505 hp (371 kW), was a monster when it was launched in 2006. Then, in 2008, the Corvette ZR1 appeared. The 7.0-liter naturally aspirated LS7 V8 was replaced by a 6.2-liter supercharged LS9, giving a colossal 647 hp (475 kW). The “Blue Devil” Corvette crossed the pond and made waves in Europe, setting NΓΌrburgring production car lap records and beating supercar rivals in performance tests. Sure, the C7 ZR1 also reached 765 hp (562 kW) but, at the time of its launch, you could buy a more powerful Dodge Challenger. At the time, the C6 was the most powerful production (
