Electric wise, lead acid is a dead duck, Toyota make a grotesque hybrid thing which I notice tend to be driven appallingly, and there's an issue with Toyota brakes, perhaps smashed examples are piling up in scrap yards waiting for their modern technology batteries to be harvested, shame if they go to waste as their manufacture will have caused vast pollution.
Obviously how the car will be used needs consideration before going 'leccy, for delivering bottles of milk in the early hours it's ideal. How about towing a trailer mounted diesel generator for electric power, run on the agricultural red stuff, this could even be legal in a loophole kind of way, charge exempt congestion zone cruising!
I wouldn't be keen myself for a rover V8, It's what powers my regular car and I find them a rough old lump of monkey metal, but still likeable if that makes sense, more suited to a tractor than a lightweight car, and that famed 'V8 rumble' is not a good thing. There are far nicer engines out there, Big Lexus Merc copy has an ohc 4l V8, come to think of it, might be worth looking at what powers Mercs.
BMW engines, from what I've seen, do tend to be sprawled across their bays, but would be the one to go for if at all feasible, though I do think unlikely.
As for diesel, I heard or read some years ago that a diesel powered car is like being gay, more acceptable than it used to be, but still wrong.
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