Toyota 2UR-GSE: The V8 Yamaha Helped Design

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Sunday, 27 Sep 2026 07:00 0 4 autotech

Toyota 2UR-GSE: The V8 Yamaha Helped Design

Great engineering collaborations have happened in the automotive industry for pretty much as long as cars have been around. Some of them haven’t resulted in success. Others, though, have created things that are truly amazing. That’s included some of the coolest engines that have ever been built.

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Toyota Has Built A Reputation For Being An Amazing Engine Builder

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Some Of Toyota’s Coolest Engines Have Been Naturally Aspirated V8s

The V8s that Toyota has built over the years don’t get anywhere near as much attention as the great inline-4s and inline-6s it’s developed. But, some of them are just as cool as those 4- and 6-cylinder units. That’s both thanks to how powerful and capable they are, and the cool cars that they were dropped into. Plenty of the best Toyotas and Lexuses built over the years have had V8 options. These have typically come from the UZ family, a bunch of 32-valve V8s that are mainly known for powering SUVs, luxury cars and trucks. But, the UR family of V8s has also had some great variants. One of those is perhaps one of Toyota’s best high-performance engines ever.

The Toyota 2UR-GSE Is A Criminally Underrated V8 That Was Co-Developed With Yamaha

Type	Displacement	Power	Torque
V8	5 liters	416-475 bhp	371-395 lb-ft

The Toyota 2UR-GSE comes from a family of engines that, like the UZ family, is typically found in trucks, luxury cars and SUVs. The 2UR-GSE, however, isn’t intended for any kind of sedate use. This is a proper high-performance engine, and it’s been engineered like one too. Like other engines in the UR family, it’s a 4-valve-per-cylinder unit with a total of 32 valves. The cylinder heads, though, are different from what you’d find on any other UR family engine. They’re made out of aluminum like the cylinder heads in other UR family engines, but they’re high-flow heads instead. This is where Yamaha’s engineering magic came in – its contribution to this engine was entirely in those high-flow cylinder heads.

Another way that Toyota ensured that this engine would have maximum performance was by giving it the full suite of its direct injection and variable valve timing technology. It has the D4-S gasoline port and direct injection system, something which isn’t present on all the UR family engines. It’s also got Dual VVT-i and the VVT-iE electric inlet camshaft actuation, again two things that aren’t present on all UR family engines. The result of this is a V8 engine that’s powerful, efficient and absolutely loves to rev. By the end of its run in production cars, the 2UR-GSE was able to rev up to 7,300 rpm!

It Was The Engine Of Choice For Several Of Lexus’s Best Performance Cars

2019 Lexus RC F in matte gray with black rims, front left 3/4

Model	Engine	Transmission	Drivetrain	Power	Torque
IS F	5-liter V8	8-speed automatic	Rear-wheel drive	416 bhp	371 lb-ft
RC F	5-liter V8	8-speed automatic	Rear-wheel drive	467-475 bhp	395 lb-ft
GS F	5-liter V8	8-speed automatic	Rear-wheel drive	467 bhp	389 lb-ft
LC500	5-liter V8	10-speed automatic	Rear-wheel drive	471 bhp	389 lb-ft
IS 500 F Sport Performance	5-liter V8	8-speed automatic	Rear-wheel drive	472 bhp	395 lb-ft

As it’s an engine designed specifically for high performance, it’s not surprising that it made its way into several of the best Lexus performance cars. These cars also ended up being criminally underrated by most enthusiasts. Some don’t even know about them, putting a couple of those models into genuine sleeper car territory. The high-performance Lexus to get the 2UR-GSE was the IS F, an understated sleeper that was built to compete with the V8-powered autobahn-crushers made by Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. The later GS F sedan and RC F coupe also use this engine, as does the extremely underrated LC500 sports car. The final production Lexus to use the 2UR-GSE is the IS 500 F Sport Performance, which was discontinued in 2025.

Toyota Has Used It Extensively In Motorsports

The 2UR-GSE has been a fantastic engine for Toyota and Lexus’s road cars. But, the Japanese mega-manufacturer didn’t just want to keep it to the streets. It’s also developed motorsports versions of this engine, and those versions have gone on to power a few different race cars. The GT3 version of the Lexus RC F uses it, in a re-stroked form that pushes its size up to 5.4 liters. This gives it an output of 500 brake horsepower, making it extremely competitive among other GT3-spec cars.

The Toyota Hilux Dakar truck also used the engine from 2012-2021, in its standard 5-liter configuration. In the Dakar truck, it produces 385 brake horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque. That’s less than what you’d find in street cars that use this engine. But, the trade-off is that massive amount of torque. That’s essential for tackling the extreme terrain drivers have to traverse in off-road racing.

Toyota GEN3 GR V8 Supra. 2026 Australian Supercars. Racing

Perhaps the coolest motorsports use the 2UR-GSE has had, though, is in the version of the Toyota GR Supra that was developed for the Supercars Championship in Australia. This car has captured the awe and imagination of enthusiasts so much, that people actually want to see a street-legal version of it! It entered the Supercars Championship in 2026, run by Walkinshaw TWG Racing and Brad Jones Racing.

For its use in the V8 Supercars-spec Toyota GR Supra, the 2UR-GSE was stroked up to 5.2 liters in size. This was achieved thanks to fitting a custom crankshaft, which has a 94 mm (around 3.7 inch) stroke. The direct injection system was also converted to a port injection system, which came with a bespoke inlet manifold and bespoke throttle control body. The result of these modifications was an engine that can produce 600 horsepower. This matches what the 2026 V8 Supercars regulations require, and allows it to compete with the Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Camaros that have been there for several years already.

A Version Of It That Runs On Hydrogen Was Developed

The development of the 2UR-GSE didn’t just stop with motorsports, either. In an unlikely move, this engine dipped its toes into the development of sustainable combustion. That was through a variant of it that runs on hydrogen. While the hydrogen version of the 2UR-GSE is similar enough to be considered as a variant of that specific UR engine type, it has quite a few significant differences to get the best possible efficiency out of running it on hydrogen. These major changes included changing it into a “hot-vee” configuration, by flipping the cylinder heads. This placed the entry point of the engine’s cold air intake to the outer side of the block, relocating the exhaust to a position where it’s within the cylinder banks. This change of where the exhaust was paved the way for Yamaha to built an 8 into 1 exhaust system, making it more efficient as well as creating a unique noise. Those flipped cylinder heads were also modified so they would be optimised for the hydrogen fuel, as well as the fuel injectors and intake manifolds.

The result of all of that is a similar output to the original gasoline version of the engine. Toyota claims that it produces 450 horsepower, and that it can rev up to 6,800 rpm. That’s less than what you’d find in more recent “F”-branded Lexus cars, but significantly more than the output of the original IS F.

Another Engine Collaboration Between Toyota And Yamaha Powered One Of The Greatest Supercars Ever

As you may already know if you’re a major gearhead, the 2UR-GSE isn’t the only high-performance engine Toyota and Yamaha developed together. They also both developed the monstrous 1LR-GUE, a 4.8-liter V10 that was developed specifically for one of the most beloved and famous supercars of all time. That’s the Lexus LFA, an engineering marvel with a naturally aspirated howl that enthusiasts loved right from the get-go. The 1LR-GUE is a performance monster, producing 552 brake horsepower and 354 lb-ft of torque, and screaming up to a redline of 9,000 rpm. This engine reaches that 9,000 rpm so quickly (in just 0.6 seconds, a world record for a production car in 2012) that the LFA absolutely had to have a digital tachometer fitted – an analogue one just wouldn’t be able to keep up.

Toyota And Lexus Are Starting To Move Away From V8s

Across the automotive industry, V8s are starting to disappear. They’ve ended up being a casualty of the drive towards efficiency and electrification. It’s been no different with Toyota and Lexus. The V8s have ended up disappearing from the luxury cars, trucks and SUVs sold by both brands, replaced by twin-turbocharged V6s. While these engines are more efficient than the old V8s, they don’t seem to have been as reliable. They also aren’t as liked by enthusiasts as the older V8s, both because of the reliablity issues and the lack of character compared to those V8s.

One Of The Only Remaining V8-Powered Toyotas Is A Luxurious JDM Land Yacht

Third-Generation Toyota Century Sedan Front Three Quarter

The V8 may be seemingly disappearing from Toyota and Lexus’s world. But, there’s one holdout still there, and it’s keeping the UR engine family alive to boot. That’s the current version of the Toyota Century sedan. This huge luxury car, exclusive to the Japanese domestic market, has a hybrid powertrain that uses the 2UR-FSE engine. This powertrain is the same as the one that was used in the 2007-2017 Lexus LS600h and LS600h L, and has a total output of 425 brake horsepower. As the top powertrain of the LS has now changed and the Century SUV uses the newer twin-turbocharged V6 engine in its hybrid powertrain, this V8 hybrid setup is completely unique to the Century sedan.

A New V8 Is On The Horizon, And It’ll Power One Of Toyota’s Best Sports Cars Yet

Judging from all of this, you might think the age of the Toyota V8 is truly over. But, Toyota hasn’t called time on it just yet. It unveiled the GR GT last year, a car that’s designed to rule both the streets and the racetrack once it’s ready to go. The GR GT has a brand-new 4-liter twin-tubocharged V8, which runs in conjunction with a hybrid system. This powertrain is intended to have at least 641 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque in the street cars, giving it the kind of power that can let it compete with genuine supercars. It’s clearly going to be popular, too – all the cars that were allocated to the US market have already sold out!