LS PWR FTW! - A total of five LS powered cars made Edmunds' list of the 100 Most Powerful Cars of All Time.

What is a car’s defining characteristic? The looks? Maybe the handling capability? It’s quarter mile E.T.?

Sure, those are all important, but there’s nothing that says more about a car’s character than its raw horsepower rating. Edmunds recently put together this very impressive list of the 100 Most Powerful Cars of All Time. To make the list the car had to be a “production car” with a rating of at least 555 horsepower. As you might expect, the list is mostly composed of exotic and special models from Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, Audi, and Lamborghini. However, looking through the list we were pleasantly surprised at how many LS powered cars made the cut.

#99. 2009 Cadillac CTS-V — 556 HP at 6,000 RPM: 6.2-liter, OHV, 16-valve V8, supercharged. Barely made the cut, actually. Just one HP over the break point.

#78. 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 — 580 HP at 6,000 RPM: 6.2-liter, OHV, 16-valve V8, supercharged. The Zl1’s nemesis, the 2013 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 is #34 with 662 HP at 6,500 RPM: 5.8-liter, DOHC, 32-valve V8, supercharged.

#46. 2009 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 — 638 HP at 6,500 RPM: 6.2-liter, OHV, 16-valve V8, supercharged. The ZR1 was narrowly beat by the 640 HP V10 2013 SRT Viper for #45.

#8. 2007 Zenvo ST1 — 1,100 HP at 6,900 RPM:  7.0-liter, OHV, 16-valve V8, turbocharged and supercharged. 1,054 lb-ft at 4,500 RPM. Yep…its got an LS7. Check it out here.

#2. 2013 Hennessey Venom GT — 1,244 HP at 6,600 RPM: 6.2-liter, OHV, 16-valve V8, twin-turbos. All you LS junkies out there already know about this car, but you can get more info here.

So there it is – the LS made it all the way to #2. Curious what the most powerful production car is on the list? The Ultimate Aero, from Shelby Super Cars with its 1,287 horsepower 6.3-liter, twin turbo V8 sits in the top spot on the list. [Editors Note: Heck, even the Aero used to have an LS engine, but now they insist that the engine is a billet aluminum V8 of their “own design.” Wana bet it’s still based on the LS?]   Hey Hennessey – looks like its time to give the boost controller on the Venom a few twists, eh?

We’ve got to give the guys at Edmunds some serious props just for the sheer amount of research that must have gone into this list.