Great cars are only as good as the engines they feature. It is one of the biggest blocks facing any car manufacturer, and one that gearheads should take heed of. Popular types of engines don't always live up to their reputations.

It can be a humbling experience that every gearhead is sure to experience at least once in their life. A dream scenario of blasting along their favorite roads only to have the engine light blink to life. Mostly, It's going to be older sports cars and classics that suffer the most. Highly strung engines such as those found in the fast and fabulous Ferrari 355 are not without their risks.

You can play it safe with a Japanese manufacturer, but even Honda, Toyota, and Subaru can deliver an unexpected dud of an engine capable of stranding gearheads with the engine light on.

Over-hyped, these popular engines are overrated.

RELATED: 10 Reasons Why We Love The TVR Tuscan

9 Jaguar V12 / E-Type / XJ-S

Jaguar E-Type S3 V12
BaT

Famed for its silky smooth power delivery Jaguar's V12 first found its way under the hood of the E-Type. Many would argue the extra weight and small power gains ruined the icon. Yet, there are some other less-than-impressive traits of the V12

Gas mileage isn't great, neither is the engine's thirst for engine oil. It's the latter that is the bigger cause for concern. Get to this stage and the check engine light is a sign all is not well. Oil leaks although simple to diagnose are a pain to fix. You only have to peek under the hood to see one of the most complex installations of any engine type.

8 TVR Speed Six / TVR Tuscan

TVR Tuscan
Via Collecting Cars

Rover Groups' sale to BMW prompted TVR to build their own engines. Good news for speed demons, less so for TVR. While TVR might not be on the same scale as other sports carmakers. The comakers' Speed Six was a popular choice delivering explosive performance.

In varying displacements, TVR gave gearheads up to 440 hp in their Red Rose and Typhon spec cars. But, low volume production issues would raise their head frequently. Something TVR "fixed" with undocumented recalls. Mostly, valves, tappets, and wiring gremlins resulted in the dread check engine light.

7 Porsche M96 / Porsche Boxster

Porsche Boxster
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Engine woes can strike any carmaker. And while the Boxster received praise for its crisp power delivery, you don't have to look too far to see its faults. Classified twice under M96/M97 branding the Boxster's 2.5-liter flat-six was troublesome.

On a good day with some luck, the M96 kicked out as much as 254 hp. Yet, Porsche's swap to water cooling and revised casting process yielded catastrophic failures. Cracked cylinder liners are mainly blamed for allowing engine oil and water to mix.

6 Ford Coyote / Ford Mustang GT

Ford Mustang GT
Ford / Prestige Motorsports

The greatest modern V8 engine? While the Coyote is the king of the hill when it comes to performance and value it isn't perfect. Worryingly for Mustangs and dozens of other cars the amber glow of the engine light is all too common.

In most cases, the orange light of doom is an attribute of the engine's electrical systems. Failed coils, electronic throttles, and EGR valves are common. Adding further to the Coyote's copybook of let-downs, oil leaks are part of ownership.

5 BMW S85 / BMW M5 E60

BMW M5 E60
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Tempting as BMW's V10-engined M5 E60 is, you might want to hold off buying one. As naturally aspirated engines go the 5.0-liter is one of the most powerful producing 100 hp per liter. Either way you look at it, sprinting to sixty in 4.3 seconds backed by a top speed of 190 mph is fast.

Plagued by gremlins, BMW's finest is almost guaranteed to frustrate owners. Between high-speed blasts, the ever-present concern of big bills is never far away. Common faults include rod bearing failure, throttle actuators, and leaky gaskets.

RELATED: 10 Cars We Forgot Came With V10 Engines

4 Ford EcoBoost / Range Rover Evoque

Range Rover Evoque
Mecum Auctions / Ford

Ford's EcoBoost engine features under the hood of anything from sports cars to SUVs. First built in 2009 the scalable engine comes in three, four, and six-cylinder forms of up to 3.5 liters. Yet, pick the mid-range 2.0-liter engine type, and you're in for trouble.

Oddly for Range Rover, it's the 2.0-liter motor that blights the compact Evoque. Flexible as the EcoBoost engine is, issues are hard to ignore. Tell-tale signs of oil and coolant mix can lead to the ECU producing an error code of P0217. But, poor acceleration and misfires are more worrying warnings all is not well.

3 Honda K20C1 / Honda Civic Type-R

Honda Civic Type-R
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Honda's K20C1 engines power several Type-R generations. Widely accepted as one of the best performance engine types, the K20C1 dishes up 315 hp from 2.0-liter. Naturally, a turbocharger plays a big part.

Now, for the bad news. Honda's legendary engine build has a few niggles in recent outings that are a cause for concern. In particular, 2020 model-year cars can suffer from engine oil dilution. Symptoms of an oil and gas mixture include a jerky throttle response. If left unchecked can lead to emissions failure. Yet, you're more likely to notice gasoline vapors escaping into the cockpit.

RELATED: The Most Reliable Honda Civic Year

2 Mazda RENESIS 13B / Mazda RX-8

Mazda RX-8
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Decades of compact performance rotary engines made Mazda's RX series sports cars famous. From the 12A series until Mazda stopped making the RX-7, rotary engines have been a popular choice.

While the RX-8 wasn't a proper sports car, it did showcase Mazda's commitment to the Wankel engine type. Over the following ten years, some 192,000+ RX-8s found buyers. Yet, a raft of design tweaks made the RENESIS 13B worse. Warped engine blocks, weak APEX seals, and poorly designed exhausts are common complaints. Most gearheads opt to replace the RENESIS unit with older 13B engines.

1 Buick/Rover V8 / Rover SD1

Rover SD1
Collecting Cars

From coupes, luxury cars, SUVs, and countless sports cars the Rover V8 was the go-to choice for carmakers. A large part of the credit surely goes to Buick who designed and then shelved engine type.

At its core supremely dependable regardless of installation and displacement. It's a pity then, that outside the block it wasn't as rugged as gearheads think. Head gaskets are almost a service item, that can be simple to tackle at home. But more troublesome are the engines electrics. ECU faults depending on the carmaker are a nightmare to rectify. Come across one with the engine light on, and it's time to walk away.