With downsizing being a priority today, thanks chiefly to ever-stricter emissions regulations, a good number of supercars are being sold with six-cylinder engines. In fact, you could even argue that some four-cylinder cars could qualify as supercars today. However, less than a decade earlier, we had a trio of V10-powered sedans sitting in mainstream automaker showrooms — crazy, yet that was the reality of the ’00s super-sedan market. BMW dropped a 5.0-liter V10 mill into an otherwise fairly regular-looking 5 Series, Audi furnished its S- and RS-badged sedans with a 5.2-liter lump, and Volkswagen went so far as to develop a diesel-powered V10 for its Bentley-based luxobarge that hardly anyone even remembers existed.
This article shines a light on those fascinating 10-cylinder sedans, zeroing in on the prices, performance specs, and general absurdity each brought to the table. We’ll also take a look at how much each example commands today, and what litany of issues typically drain the wallet of anyone foolish enough to take one on. While those models are listed below in chronological order of release, we’ve also included a brief look at a pair of show-stopping V10-powered sedan concepts that sadly never saw the light of day. One was silenced by a shift in direction, while another found itself permanently postponed by the hands of the ’08 financial crisis.
Volkswagen
The Volkswagen Phaeton was the first 10-cylinder sedan to break onto the market. It arrived in 2003, designed to elevate Volkswagen’s position in the car industry, and Ferdinand Piëch and his team equipped it with all the vital tools to do so. Air suspension, immensely comfortable leather seats, a ridiculously complex A/C system, and a whole host of cool engine options.
The base model came with Volkswagen’s weird VR6, which sounds ace and delivers a respectable punch of power — as does the optional 4.2-liter V8. A 3.0-liter direct-injection turbodiesel (TDI) was available in other markets, but for the big spenders, Volkswagen offered both a 6.0-liter W12 and a 4.9-liter V10 TDI. The latter produced 313 horsepower alongside 553 pound-feet of torque – ample for a German luxury sedan at the time.
It wasn’t an option that made it to the U.S. market. Instead, Americans received the V8 and W12. Across the pond in the U.K., though, the V10 Phaeton went on sale in early 2003 with a sticker of £57,840, or the equivalent of $95,574 back then. Adjusted for inflation, that comes out to about $175,000 today. Depreciation has really played its part with this forgotten flagship, though, and as a result, prices rarely top £10,000 ($13,480) today. Meanwhile, its W12-powered counterparts regularly trade hands for around $15,000 to $20,000 in the U.S., depending on mileage.
As for what to watch out for, the consensus is just about everything. There was little room in the engine bay, so owners detail that some jobs — like turbocharger replacement — are an engine-out ordeal. That makes work both labor-intensive and not DIY-friendly, and big bills make what is essentially a fancy Passat quite difficult to justify.
BMW
It was the E60-generation M5 that next appeared on the 10-cylinder sedan scene, debuting as a 2005 model year. Unlike the Phaeton, which was sold as a comfort-first luxury car, the E60 M5 was first and foremost a performance car. It famously takes power from the naturally aspirated S85 5.0-liter V10, which delivers 500 hp alongside 384 lb-ft of torque. A high compression ratio of 12:1 ensured the M5 meets its 100-hp-per-liter target, and it revs all the way to 8,250 rpm, too. The brilliance of this design was rewarded with the coveted International Engine of the Year Award in both ’05 and ’06, and it’s an engine that still attracts much enthusiast attention 20-plus years later.
When new, buyers would have had to fork out $84,895 for one of these V10-powered super-sedans, and while they have indeed depreciated quite heavily over the last two decades, prices are once again on the move. Classic.com shows $25,555 as the average price paid for SMG-equipped examples, while six-speed manual cars command a significant premium at $45,127. That premium comes down to collectors cherishing the stick-shift involvement, but also ostensibly to the fact that SMG transmissions are so troublesome and expensive to repair — hydraulic pump failures are regular and can easily set owners back thousands of dollars to correct. Aside from SMG woes, the V10 itself is particularly trouble-prone, with its oil pump, throttle body actuators, and rod bearings being known weak spots.
Audi
Volkswagen and BMW put their V10 engines into multiple cars, but only ever into a single sedan. Audi outdid them both combined, placing V10s under the hood of C6-generation S6 and RS6 models, in addition to the D3-era S8. The V10-powered S6 arrived in the U.S. as a 2007 model year, as did the S8, while the C6 RS6 sadly avoided the U.S. market altogether.
In these S6 and S8 sedans, torque sat at 398 lb-ft, although the S8 delivered a touch more horsepower: 450 hp compared to the S6’s 435. However, when it comes to sheer performance, the forbidden-fruit RS model is the real star of the show. While the S-badged cars featured a naturally aspirated 5.2-liter V10, the RS6 used a 5.0-liter V10 aided by a pair of turbochargers. At the time of its 2008 model-year debut, it was the most powerful production Audi car of all time, kicking out 579 hp and 479 lb-ft.
When shiny and new, buyers were paying £76,160 for an RS6 Sedan, or the equivalent of about $150,000 back then, which would amount to $239,440 today. We drove the latest RS6 Avant, which cost $122,995, so perhaps the C6-era car was a little expensive, but applying financial logic to a twin-turbocharged 10-cylinder probably isn’t the best way to look at such a car.
Like the others, these cars have depreciated massively. A simple oil pump seal often necessitates a multi-thousand-dollar engine-out job on the RS6, and that pretty much sets the precedent for any 10-cylinder sedan ownership experience. Still, the fact that used U.S.-market S6 and S8 models can be secured for below $10,000 with reasonable mileage today at least leaves the deep-pocketed among us plenty of cash left over for maintenance.
The V10 sedans we never got
That concludes our list of V10-powered sedans that made production, and it might seem remarkable that $25,000 is enough to find yourself in a seat in any of them. What’s interesting, though, is that a different pair of automakers also looked to produce their own 10-cylinder sedans in the ’00s, but sadly never made it all the way.
First up was Ford. The Blue Oval brand released its startling 427 Concept in 2003, and it was designed to recapture the glory of America’s traditional and luxurious four-door sedan. Motivating the sharp concept was a modular V10, which boasted a full 427 cubic inches of displacement plus 590 hp and 509 lb-ft of torque — all of which was directed toward the rear wheels. In the end, it remained just a concept, as Ford instead shifted its attention toward other performance models, such as the 2005 Ford GT and the S-197 Mustang.
The other concept worth shining a light on is the 2008 Lamborghini Estoque. It was sort of the Urus before the Urus, but it wasn’t an SUV but rather a Lamborghini designed around daily life — think commutes and school drop-offs, rather than cross-country road trips and tire-shredding track days. It was set to be powered by a variant of the Gallardo V10. Buyers could have expected somewhere in the region of 500 horsepower, but it was never to be. With the global recession underway, and Lamborghini ready to explore a more practical model, the Estoque was no longer the flavor of the month. Instead, the Urus would have its day, but we can still reminisce about what could have been.
