One thing i've noticed recently (in the last five - ten years) is the definite upsurge in the latest automotive "fashion" trend, or whatever you would call it. This latest and greatest trend has companies such as Ford, Porsche, BMW and Chrysler jumping on board. What is this trend you might ask? The V-10.
Now some of you might be thinking "this guy is nuts, the V-10 has been around for a while". However, we've never seen such an abundance of quite an uncommon engine type than we see in the cars of today. Just look around you, you see the Porsche Carrera GT, The Lamborghini Gallardo, the BMW M5, the Dodge Viper, and most recently The Shelby GTR-1 Concept, and you think, "V-10", must be sporty. But why?
Why not a V-8? "Of course" you think to yourself, a V-10 is bigger. Hell, it's two better than a V-8, that must count for something. And 10 is such a nice round number, it just sounds nice. Of course all of the Formula One fans think of their favourite teams lining up on the grid at Monaco, or Spa, or Imola or wherever they fantasize about. And NASCAR fans and the like will all be thinking "V-10, I didn't know there was anything bigger than a V-8. Thats some new and far-out stuff."
Of course most people here know a good deal about cars and will realize that there is nothing tecnologically supperior in a V-10 that can't be found in a V-8 or V-12. Sure, some will say that is smaller and more compact than a V-12 and can thus fit more applications, so is a V-8. And some will say that a V-10 is capable of more power than a V-8 due to it's increase in combustion area and the plain and simple fact that it's already two better than a V-8. But a V-12 is four better than a V-8, and of course it backs up all the big performance golliaths like the Ferrari Enzo, the McLaren F1, the Pagani Zonda, and a myraid of Lamborghinis, to name but a few.
So is the V-10 just a compromise? Is it better than a V-8, but not quite as good as a V-12? Not quite NASCAR, not quite Ferrari but somewhere in between? Or mabey its just the chic automotive style of the new millenium. Mabey automakers are finaly trying to capitalize on the millions of Formula One fans and give them something they can appreciate.
If the V-8 is rugged and tough, the proverbial everyman. and the V-12 is the ultra-lux "I'm better than thou, look at me", then mabey the V-10 is the performance middle ground; a sort of "Jack-Of-All-Trades".
Now a company like Porsche I can understand using a V-10. For years their entire model line-up has been dominated by six and eight cylinder engines. They make a V-10 and use it as a stepping stone to one day reclaim V-12 might. Of couse on the other hand you have companies like Ferrari .They have always had a V-12 model in their range, making a car with a V-10 would only bring them down to a lower level of perfection and off of the god-like pedestal they have been placed upon. Then take a peek at Lamborghini, for the past 20 or so years they have only produced a V-12 powered car, one that Ferrucio figgured could take the fight to Enzo. But times have changed. The Automobile economy demands that Lamborghini produce a more wide-spread model, and what better engine to suit it than a V-10, not as good (remembering that a V-12 is two better than a V-8) as the lump in the Murcielago, but better than anything else (two better than any V-8).
So here we are, basically we've gotten nowhere. A V-10 is two better than a V-8, but it's two below a V-12. it has the advantages of both, along with some of the disadvantages of either.
Well, I guess the point of the V-10 is that there is no point. Fashion is generally a pretty vain subject. You aren't going to find much use in the stripes on your shirt, or the colour of your tie. But we have to remember something about fashion: it can sometimes be fun. And it always separates the plain and everyday from the outrageous and extrordinary.
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Originally Posted by Spastik_Roach
