The Weird V8 Nobody Remembers Came From Japan
For many of us, Mitsubishi means all-wheel drive, 1990s sports cars, the Lancer Evolution, and the Galant VR-4, not relatively large-displacement V8s. However, back in the late ’90s, Mitsubishi teamed up with Hyundai to create an engine that would go on to change the face of the auto world. This strange V8 has been largely forgotten in a field dominated by HEMIs, Coyotes, F136s, and UZs, but it was a lot more important than its overlooked legacy suggests.
Japan Had A Habit Of Betting On Engine Tech Nobody Else Would Touch
Japanese brands have their own secret sauce when it comes to building engines. We don’t tend to see many huge-displacement engines from the likes of Toyota, Mazda, Honda, or Nissan, but we do see some unique ones.
The Wankel rotary is the obvious example. Felix Wankel came up with the idea in Germany, but Mazda was the company that really stuck with it. Instead of pistons moving up and down, a triangular rotor spins inside a housing.
Its three apexes maintain the seal while the spaces around the rotor go through intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust as it turns. That means fewer moving parts and a compact engine, but more importantly a high redline of over 9,000 rpm and a fun feel underfoot.
Japanese Automakers Didn’t Always Follow The Usual Formula
Toyota and Lexus went a little sideways with the iconic Lexus LFA, using a 4.8-liter V10 with a 72-degree bank instead of chasing big displacement. The relatively unusual layout helps to balance the engine, while the small cylinders, titanium rods, and lightweight internals help it reach 9,000 rpm.
Individual throttle bodies make for very sharp responses, while the compact design means it fits nicely into the LFA’s hood. It is an odd combination on paper, but it certainly works: ten cylinders give the LFA all sorts of smoothness and character, while the high-revving design delivers the kind of response Lexus was after.
The Mitsubishi 8A80 Was A V8 First
They may be the most famous examples of strange Japanese engines, but then there is the Mitsubishi 4.5-liter 8A80 V8, part of the 8A8 engine family, the only V8 Mitsubishi has ever made. The 8A80 V8 was born from a partnership between Mitsubishi and Hyundai, and the collaboration made sense for both companies.
It made its first appearance in 1999 as the driving force for Mitsubishi’s flagship sedan of the time. However, this foray into V8 engines only lasted around three years before being phased out in 2002.
The First Mass-Production Gasoline V8 With Direct Injection
The big thing here is not that Mitsubishi built a V8, but how they got fuel into it. The 8A80 was the first mass-produced gasoline V8 to use direct injection (GDI), making its debut when the technology was still largely unknown outside Mitsubishi and most gasoline engines were still using port injection.
Hyundai and Mitsubishi worked together to develop the engine and spread the cost of making a new engine, with Mitsubishi providing the GDI system and aluminum cylinder heads, and Hyundai providing the aluminum block and some of the major internals.
The Technology Was Years Ahead Of Most V8s
Direct injection means that fuel is delivered straight into the combustion chamber instead of the intake port, allowing much more control over combustion. It was a complicated system for the late ’90s, but a whole host of Toyota engines, Ford’s EcoBoost V6, GM’s Small Block V8, and Stellantis’s Hurricane bi-turbo inline-six use it today.
Mitsubishi had already launched a mass-produced GDI engine in ’96, the 1.8-liter 4G93 inline-four, so the 8A80 was not the company’s first attempt at it. Scaling it up to 4.5 liters was a much bigger task, though, particularly while maintaining the refinement expected from it.
The 8A80 uses DOHC and four valves per cylinder, alongside the aluminum block and heads, which made it relatively sophisticated for the era. But what makes it important is how Mitsubishi put it all together to create smooth V8 power made for luxury sedans, something Mitsubishi is not exactly famous for.
Japan’s Gentleman’s Agreement Meant This V8 Was Capped — By Design
The Mitsubishi 8A80 GDI V8 is good for 276 horsepower at 5,000 rpm and 304 pound-feet of torque at 4,000 rpm, so well within the remit of low-end smooth V8 torque you’d expect from something with a 4.5-liter displacement.
What may be surprising, though, is how little horsepower was extracted from it. The reason: the Japanese Gentleman’s Agreement. Road deaths in Japan in the 1980s were particularly high, and to prevent a horsepower war, Japanese automakers formed an informal pact that limited horsepower to 276 and top speeds to 112 mph.
This is why some of the most legendary Japanese cars were limited to this output, and why the likes of the VVT-i 1UZ-FE V8-equipped Toyota Crown, which Mitsubishi wanted to challenge, was only originally advertised with the same horsepower.
In reality, many of these numbers are likely understated. In not-so-quiet industry-wide whispers, horsepower for the likes of the Crown, and the ’90s Supra, Skyline GT-R, and RX-7 are much more powerful than their original paperwork states.
The V8 Ended Up In A Few Luxury Sedans Most People Have Forgotten
During its circa three-year original span, the 8A80 V8 was only used for two Mitsubishi luxury sedans and one Hyundai luxury sedan. The Mitsubishi Proudia arrived for the 1999 model year as a large flagship sedan, with power-adjustable seats, individually reclining seats, wood trim, four-zone climate control, and a 7-inch navigation display.
Mitsubishi also offered the Dignity, which was essentially the chauffeur-focused version, with a nearly 10-inch increase in wheelbase length. This was to give rear-seat passengers more room, while the cabin got a power-reclining seat with a leg rest, heated seats, massage functions, a folding wood table, and a dedicated rear console. You even got electronic damping and self-leveling suspension.
The Proudia also had some surprisingly advanced safety gear for the time. It was originally available with the Driver Support System, which included cameras and radar to monitor the road, with lane departure warnings, a rear-quarter monitor, and laser radar-controlled adaptive cruise control. Not only was the engine something groundbreaking for the market, but so was the safety tech that would eventually make its way into mainstream cars.
It was the first-generation Hyundai Equus, though, that gave the 8A80 a longer life. It also launched in 1999 and remained in production until 2008, but the original GDI-equipped version of the 8A80 was used only until 2003.
After that, Hyundai used the same V8 architecture but reverted to multi-port injection because the GDI was designed for high-octane gasoline, which was not as widely available in Korea at the time. This led to owners using regular gas, which then led to performance and reliability problems. In short, the 8A80 was the first mass-production GDI V8 but was too ahead of its time for the market it was being sold in.
Mitsubishi’s Forgotten V8 Was A Genuine Engine Milestone
All three of the original luxury sedans with the 8A80 V8 under the hood are exceptionally rare in the U.S. Only 1,227 Proudias were built between 1999 and 2001, while only 59 Dignitys were built. Both were also built exclusively for the Japanese market.
It is a slightly different story for the Hyundai Equus, which was sold mainly in South Korea, where it was offered as both a sedan and a limo. The first-gen Equus was also exported to the Middle East and China, and some even made it to Western Europe under the Centennial badge, but again, the first-gen models are hard to come by in the U.S.
Classic.com says the average auction price of the Equus is currently $12,368, but in the last year, no 8A80 V8-equipped models have been sold. The 8A80 V8 never became a widely recognized engine, and Mitsubishi’s own flirtation with the layout was short-lived. But the engine arrived with technology that would become commonplace, with the Audi 4.2-liter FSI V8 following in 2005 and the Toyota 1UR-FSE V8 with D-4S following in 2007. Obscure for the time perhaps, but important for the whole auto market.
Sources: Mitsubishi, Hyundai, and Classic.com.
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