The 10 Fastest V8-Powered Cars With A Manual Transmission In 2024 (2024)

Eight cylinders under the hood, plus fat tires on the floor used to be the best equation for a performance car. Nowadays, it's all about twin-turbo four and six-cylinders or hybrids with dual-clutch automatic transmissions. While some dual-clutch cars have paddle shifters, so drivers can pretend they are doing something, it's not the same visceral experience of working a clutch and slapping through the gears.

V-8 engines and manual transmissions are becoming relics of the past and vehicles that feature both are increasingly hard to find. Thankfully, however, it's not impossible and for 2024 there are still a few models equipped with a powerful V-8 engine that is paired with a stick-shift. Like from the beginning, the eight-cylinder/manual transmission formula produces some of the fastest cars on the road.

7 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392

Top Speed: 111 MPH

Mopar muscle may have been canceled and the legendary Hemi V-8 is on its way out, but it gets one last hurrah under the hood of the 2023 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392. The high-performance off-road package for the iconic Wrangler is also still available with a six-speed manual transmission, making for an old-school pairing that conjures up memories of the classic era of American muscle cars. It would have been cooler in a Dodge Challenger or Charger, but a 470-horsepower Jeep with a stick doesn't exactly suck.

Power, Performance, and Price

The Wrangler Rubicon 392 is the slowest V-8 vehicle with a manual transmission on the list, but it is a ride that was meant for off-roading, not drag racing. Still, with a sub-13 second quarter-mile time, it is faster than a 1969 Plymouth Roadrunner equipped with a 426 Hemi engine. The fact that the Jeep can smoke most cars on the street and climb up the side of a mountain makes it both versatile and impressive. With a price tag nearing six digits, it is a vehicle for hard-core fans only, who have to have the last Hemi with a stick-shift that may ever exist.

6 Ford Mustang GT

Top Speed: 155 MPH

With the Dodge Charger and Challenger being retired in 2023, and the Chevrolet Camaro heading out to pasture after the 2024 model year, the Ford Mustang remains as the last modern muscle car standing (driving?). While Ford has made some converts with their insane-horsepower turbocharged four-cylinder EcoBoost engine, the company hasn't abandoned the V-8. The 2024 Mustang GT, comes equipped with the 5.0-liter Coyote V-8, and, as luck would have it, can be paired with a six-speed manual transmission.

Power, Performance, and Price

The Mustang GT performance package has been around for almost 60 years, but not even Carroll Shelby made one as powerful as the 2024 version. In fact, the 1965 Mustang GT, which was the first year, had a 289ci small-block V-8 that generated 225 horsepower. The new GT makes more than double that and accelerates from 0-60 mph about two seconds faster.

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With an MSRP under 45k, the 2024 Mustang GT is one of the most affordable performance cars on the market. It is also one of the few vehicles of any type that comes with a V-8 and a manual transmission. Next year, it will be the only muscle car available, and the price may shoot up due to the law of supply and demand.

5 Ford Mustang Dark Horse

Top Speed: 166 MPH

The Dark Horse is the top trim level for the 2024 Ford Mustang line-up and comes with a more powerful version of the 5.0-liter Coyote V-8 engine that is standard in the GT. Ford touts the Dark Horse as the most powerful naturally aspirated Mustang ever built. At 500 horsepower, they ain't kidding, because this pony car is a true Thoroughbred racehorse. Adding to the sheer awesomeness of this Tripple-Crown champion is that, like the GT, it has a six-speed manual transmission option.

Power, Performance, and Price

The 2024 Mustang Dark Horse cranks out 14 more ponies than the GT, but still has the amount of torque. While it is certainly an accomplishment to get 500 horsepower without a turbo or supercharger, the Dark Horse engine doesn't make it faster than the GT in a way that anyone would notice. The Dark Horse is a tenth of a second faster at 0-60 mph acceleration, but pulls the exact same quarter-mile time as the GT. The Dark Horse costs $17,775 more than the GT, and while it does have other performance upgrades, it probably isn't worth the expense for a half-tick of extra acceleration.

4 Chevrolet Camaro 1SS

Top Speed: 183 MPH

Since its introduction in 1967, the Chevrolet Camaro SS has been one of the baddest street machines ever conceived. Even GM's arbitrary engine ban, which limited the iconic pony car to engines under 400 cubic inches of displacement, couldn't stop it from ripping quarter-mile times in the 13s.

Sadly, market forces have conspired against the Camaro, and Chevy is discontinuing it after this year. Before fans get too weepy-eyed, that means that the Camaro is still currently available, and some even come with a V-8 and manual transmission combo, just like the old days.

Power, Performance, and Price

The 1SS is actually a mid-level trim for the 2024 Camaro that comes standard with a 6.2-liter V-8 engine and optional with a six-speed manual transmission. It's a few bucks less than the Mustang GT and is slightly faster, making it the greatest deal in performance muscle for the year.

The biggest knock on this last-gen Camaro is that there is limited visibility out of the rear window, but when a car can hit 0-60 in under four seconds, drivers should be looking forward, not backward. This final edition both helps fans live in the past and look to the future, where, hopefully, Chevy comes to its senses and brings the Camaro back, preferably not as an EV.

3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Top Speed: 190 MPH

As impressive as the 2024 Chevrolet Camaro 1SS is, the top-dog ZL1 is absolutely awe-inspiring. Chevy took the 6.2-liter V-8 and supercharged it to blast out an earth-shattering 650 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. Of course, it would be hard to properly enjoy that unreal amount of power without a manual transmission, so luckily, the Camaro ZL1 has an option between a 10-speed automatic and a six-speed stick. In reality, acceleration is a bit quicker with the automatic, but more fun with the manual.

Power, Performance, and Price

While it's sad that the Camaro nameplate is being retired, at least it's going out with a bang. The ZL1 is a proper tribute to the performance of the iconic car. Actually, it's more like a middle finger to fuel economy and emissions standards, that celebrates the glory of the V-8 engine. At around 75k, the ZL1 is a bargain, because, generally speaking, a performance ride with 600+ horsepower that can run a quarter-mile in the 11s is a $100,000 and up car. The added value of the collectability of the last Chevy Camaro makes it a steal.

2 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing

Top Speed: 205 MPH

It's unclear why Cadillac keeps making the CT5-V Blackwing, as they don't sell very many of them, but fans of V-8 American power are sure glad they still do. The 2024 CT5-V Blackwing is an absurd exercise in excessive power, coming with a 6.2-liter supercharged V-8, that rockets out 668 horsepower. The kind of cool, but unassumingly-styled, Cadillac is the ultimate sleeper car that doesn't project the amazing power it possesses. The best way to enjoy this "Decepticon," is with the optional six-speed manual transmission, something else fans are glad that Cadillac still offers.

Power, Performance, and Price

On top of scary-quick acceleration times, the CT5-V Blackwing has a nerve-shattering 205 MPH top speed. While the prospect of going over 200 miles per hour in a luxury sedan is sufficiently terrifying, and most people will never do it, it is a legitimate brag that owners have at their disposal for any friendly arguments about vehicle performance. Of course, with 668 horsepower and an 11.6-second quarter-mile time, performance arguments are best settled on the track, where the CT5-V Blackwing will win every time, as long as it doesn't line up against a Demon 170 or EV supercar.

1 Koenigsegg CC850

Top Speed: 280 MPH

People probably think an exotic like the Koenigsegg CC850 has a V-12 or W-16 engine and a radical multi-clutch transmission, but the reality is, for 2024, the Swedish supercar comes with a V-8 and a six-speed. Granted, the 5.0-liter twin-turbo of the CC850 is no ordinary V-8, generating an unfathomable 1,385 horsepower, and the six-speed is a drive mode that is part of a nine-speed multi-clutch transmission, but the car hits the basic parameters of this list. It also hits 0-60 in an estimated 2.5 seconds, but chances are it's quicker than that.

Power, Performance, and Price

All this crazy performance, however, doesn't come cheap and these bad boys will set a buyer back more than three and a half million. If one were to purchase every other vehicle on this list, it would only add up to $414,619. Even more mind-blowing, someone could purchase eight Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392, eight Ford Mustang GTs, eight Ford Mustang Dark Horses, eight Chevrolet Camaro 1SSs, eight Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s, and eight Cadillac CT5-V Blackwings, and it would still be less than the $3.65 million sticker price of the Koenigsegg CC850. Sure, this is a race car, not a daily driver for anyone who isn't an oil billionaire, but that is some serious coin for a car.