Every conference, every earnings call, every government white paper says the same thing: the internal combustion engine is finished. Regulators have drawn the lines. Manufacturers have committed to dates. The transition is not a question of if but when. And yet, in 2026, the best driver’s cars in the world still burn fuel. The most emotionally compelling machines humans have built still use fire. The highest-residual-value performance cars on the market are still naturally aspirated.
This is not denial. It is observation. And the enthusiast community has been right about this longer than anyone in a boardroom wants to admit.
THE NUMBERS ARGUMENT MISSES THE POINT
Electric vehicles have won the argument on paper. Instant torque. Zero tailpipe emissions. Lower running costs per mile in most markets. These are real advantages. Nobody is disputing the physics. What the spreadsheet misses is the texture of the experience — and texture turns out to matter enormously to the people who use cars as more than transport.
An electric powertrain is, by design, linear. The power delivery is uniform. The sound is absent or synthesised. The mechanical connection between driver input and vehicle response is mediated by software rather than friction and combustion chemistry. For most use cases, this is fine. For driving as an end in itself, it removes the variable that made you interested in the first place.
“Nobody lies awake at night thinking about the car they drive to work. They think about the car they drove at the weekend — on a mountain road, with the windows down and the engine doing what only an engine can do.”
WHAT COMBUSTION GIVES YOU THAT NOTHING ELSE DOES
- Sound that changes with intent. A naturally aspirated flat-six at 9,000 RPM is not just propulsion — it is communication. The engine tells you what it is doing, what it wants, and when it is in its element. Nothing electric replicates this without synthetic audio that fools nobody with the windows down.
- Mechanical feel under load. The subtle vibration of a warm engine, the resistance of the drivetrain at the edge of grip, the moment the power band arrives — these sensations are part of the dialogue between driver and machine. Remove them and you have a fast appliance.
- Heat cycles and earned intimacy. A combustion engine needs warming, needs cooling, responds differently on a cold morning versus a hot afternoon on circuit. This inconvenience is actually part of the experience. It requires attention. It rewards familiarity in a way that turning a key and selecting “Sport+” never will.
- Character that belongs to its configuration. A BMW S58 inline-six does not sound or feel like a Ferrari flat-plane V8, which bears no resemblance to a Porsche flat-six. These are distinct personalities. Interchangeable electric motors produce interchangeable experiences. The comparison is not flattering.
THE INFRASTRUCTURE REALITY
The transition argument assumes charging infrastructure follows adoption at pace. It does not. In 2026, long-distance fast charging in many regions remains inconsistent for anything beyond routine urban commuting. A track day — the kind of driving that actually pushes a car — devastates an EV battery in a way it does not a combustion car. A fuel stop takes three minutes. A DC fast charge takes considerably longer and degrades battery health in ways that compound over time.
For daily driving in cities with good charging infrastructure, EVs are already the rational choice. For enthusiast use — track days, mountain touring, events where you want to arrive and drive again without planning around a charger — combustion remains the practical option as well as the emotional one.
THE MANUFACTURERS WHO STILL GET IT
A small number of manufacturers have read their customers correctly and continued investing in combustion under genuine regulatory pressure to electrify. Porsche’s 9,000-RPM naturally aspirated flat-six continues to evolve. Ferrari has committed to retaining ICE in its most important models. BMW produced the M2 and M3 with six-speed manual options in an era when nothing commercially demanded it. These are not accidents. They are responses to a customer base that is communicating clearly.
The market is also voting with residuals. The 992 GT3 RS is not depreciating. The M2 CS manual is not depreciating. Several high-profile electric performance cars have shown that depreciation can be punishing when the technology cycle moves faster than the ownership cycle. The comparison is instructive.
THE VERDICT
Combustion engines are not coming back because they never left. The enthusiast community has been described as nostalgic, retrograde, resistant to progress. That framing is wrong. Enthusiasm for internal combustion is not about the past. It is about a specific quality of experience that electric powertrains have not replicated and show no sign of being designed to replicate.
The ICE age ends when people stop caring about the act of driving. That has not happened. It is not happening. The cars that generate the longest waiting lists, the strongest residuals, and the most passion in 2026 are all burning fuel. The market is telling you something. It is worth listening.