The Highest Horsepower V6 Engine Available In 2024

When it comes to building engines, one philosophy is that the bigger, the better. Six cylinders? Why not eight? Ten? Twelve? Another philosophy is to work smarter, not harder. If you can get supercar specs out of six cylinders, why drag the car down with all that extra aluminum and cast iron? Track records are frequently made and broken on a difference of 100 pounds of curb weight, and with how much juice you can get out of turbochargers and electric motors these days, it’s no wonder some of the quickest cars in the world have some of the leanest engines.

Ferrari’s 296 GTB hits 60 mph in under three seconds, and it does the quarter mile in under ten. Here’s everything you need to know about the most powerful V6 in production today.

A Look At The Strongest V6 Production Engine In The World

Ferrari’s 296 GTB is a mid-engine coupe introduced in 2021 as “the first real Ferrari with just six cylinders.” Earlier V6s built by Ferrari were marketed under the Dino brand, so technically, it is true, but only from a branding standpoint. The base engine is a twin-turbo 120° V6 capable of cranking out 654 horsepower on its own at 8,000 rpm. It is paired with an electric motor for a total output of 819 hp. The 296 is a plug-in hybrid, and it boasts 16 miles of all-electric range, which means you’ve got just enough power to get to the track and back home while saving your gasoline for the quarter-mile.

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The Ferrari 296 GTB itself was designed at the Ferrari Styling Center, with Flavoio Manzoni overseeing the project. Manzoni’s design credits cover the whole spectrum, from more restrained cars like the 2008 Volkswagen Golf Mk6 to rocketships on wheels like the Ferrari Monza SP1.

The GTB is a Gran Turismo Berlinetta. The car is also available as a hard-top convertible GTS or Gran Turismo Spider. The 296 initially sold at a price of $322,986, moving 501 units in 2022, according to Good Car Bad Car. At last check, the 2024 MSRP was set at $338,255. That’s before add-ons and taxes and dealer fees and delivery, of course. But if you’re already spending a third of a million dollars on a supercar, what’s another couple of grand to get it to your driveway?

How Ferrari Got 654 Horsepower Out Of A V6

Before you go thinking, “Well, any car can break horsepower records when you add an electric motor to it,” just know that the Ferrari 296’s position as the strongest V6 in the world right now was secured by the base specs of the 654-hp Ferrari Tipo F163 engine. That is, 654 horses is the record for the strongest V6 engine in the world. You could rip the electric motor out of the 296, and you’d still have one of the most powerful cars in the world.

What makes this engine so powerful really comes down to good engineering. Ferrari used an aluminum engine block and cylinder heads to bring the weight down without sacrificing power. It also uses direct fuel injection, reducing turbo lag and allowing the fuel to act as a coolant, resulting in higher compression ratios and more horsepower.

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In the name of reducing weight, the turbochargers employ a smaller diameter for the wheel bearings and rotors, which Ferrari says results in an 11% loss in weight and 24% better efficiency. The intake manifold is made from lightweight thermo-resistant plastic. Ferrari even made sure the engine sounded right, nicknaming the engine the “piccolo V12” for its V12-like notes, achieved via the engine’s wide V-angle.

How Does The Ferrari 296 GTB Hold Up On The Track?

Big numbers are a lot of fun. We could sit here and list big numbers all day. But until we see how they translate to performance on the track, they’re just big numbers. So, what kind of records is this thing setting when the rubber actually hits the road?

The 296 hits 60 mph in 2.4 seconds, and it does the quarter mile in 9.6 seconds at a speed of 150 mph. This ties the 296 with the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport for tenth-shortest quarter mile in any segment, according to Zero to Sixty Times, and it makes for the fastest V6 in the world whether you’re looking at the 0-60 or the quarter mile.

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Second place on both the quarter mile and the 0-60 goes to the Ferrari 296 GTS hard top convertible, coming up one-tenth of a second short of the GTB on both runs. The GTB weighs in at a minimum of 3,241 lbs, while the added weight of the convertible top brings the GTS up to 3,395 lbs. A difference you only notice when you’re counting tenths of a second.

The Ferrari 296 GT3 debuted at the 2023 24 Hours of Daytona, replacing the Ferrari 488 GT3, and would go on to set a distance record at the 2023 24 Hours of Nürburgring at 162 laps. In early 2024, the 296 achieved the 24 Hours of Daytona GTD PRO class victory.

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The V6-Powered Cars The Ferrari 296 GTB Beat For The Top Spot

The listed specs are for base engine numbers, as some of these achieve a higher output with a hybrid motor assist. The Mercedes AMG-One, for instance, delivers more than a thousand horses when you add in the three electric motors but doesn’t even crack the top three for unassisted power output. Now, with that out of the way, here are the top five runners-up to the 296

The first thing you’ll notice about this list is that it’s a pretty steep fall-off. Before we’ve reached the end of the list, we’re already down more than 100 horses. While you typically expect any given car to hold onto its world records for fleeting months at a time before someone else borrows a few ideas and blows them out of the water, the 296 could wind up being the strongest V6 in the world for years to come, having first set the record back in 2022.

At this point, it makes more sense to up your horsepower with an electric motor than it does to spend millions of dollars redesigning your turbochargers to shave mere ounces off the curb weight. While the 296 won’t hold the record for fastest V6 car on the track forever, the title of strongest unassisted V6 engine will be a hard one to yank from Ferrari’s grip.