Camaros, turbos, mpgs and the underappreciated V8

[Intrepidation]

The GMnext blog has a post up that talks about the potential viability of a low-displacement turbocharged motor -- the direct-injected 2.0L Ecotec turbo, specifically -- in upcoming GM cars, including the Camaro. Let's talk about this a little. The breathed-upon Ecotec delivers 260 horses and 260 lb-ft of torque, and if you've driven, say, the Sky or Solstice equipped with it, you know just how ballsy it really is. It's more powerful (but less torquey) than either V8 offered in the '87 IROC-Z that I thought was so cool back during high school. The turbo four might well be a nice solution in a future iteration of the Camaro, but is the fuel economy argument for it as rock solid as it might seem on the surface?

The Pontiac Solstice GXP with the turbo four has an EPA fuel economy rating of 19 city/28 hwy when mated to a 5-speed manual. Not bad at all for the performance it delivers, but that same drivetrain in the bigger, heavier Camaro isn't likely to give you equal returns in terms of fuel consumption. Over at AutoblogGreen, Sam notes that the 2.0 turbo's lighter weight relative to the six- and eight-cylinders the Camaro's going to launch with should help somewhat. He follows by reminding us that GM's next-gen mild hybrid system will work with RWD cars and predicts that we'll see a 2.0T hybrid Camaro by 2011 or so. This would dovetail neatly with the first phase of the new CAFE regs, and we're sure GM would find a way to engineer a hypothetical turbo/hybrid's fuel economy numbers so they'd play nice within Uncle Sam's rules. Great.

The issue with all this talk of four-cylinder turbos and hybrids for a muscle car (along with attempts to redefine the class and reset expectations) is that everyone conveniently overlooks just how good the existing V8 is. In the 2008 Corvette Coupe, the big bad 6.2L LS3 is rated at 16 city/26 hwy. Hardly a guzzler in the traditional sense, the V8's rating isn't that far off from the direct-injected Ecotec turbo. Furthermore, the V8's fuel economy comes with 430 horsepower and 424 lb-ft of torque. Those are numbers befitting a muscle car like a Camaro. Who's to say a direct-injected LS-family V8 with efficiency tech like hybridization and/or cylinder deactivation wouldn't be just as effective at meeting the federal fuel economy requirements that begin taking effect a few years from now? You could potentially satisfy the government-created CAFE gods without giving the customers who want actual, traditional muscle the finger in the process. Yes, the consensus seems to be that smaller engines will be a necessity across the board in the new CAFE era, but let's not summarily ignore the bigger ones just because they're big.

Source: Autoblog

Edited May 18, 2008 by Dodgefan

[balthazar]

>>"Who's to say a direct-injected LS-family V8 with efficiency tech like hybridization and/or cylinder deactivation wouldn't be just as effective at meeting the federal fuel economy requirements that begin taking effect a few years from now?"<<

Well... DUH !!

[cletus8269]

good post. i was discussing the Z06 (when new) talking about hand built this and weight saving that and 505hp to boot when a nurse in the ER decided to join in the conversation and boastfully state thats just great in an era with outrageous gas prices and the need for everyone to conserve leave it to a yahoo car company to bring out some gas hog sports car that has no purpose on the street but to say look at me and my salary. not skipping a beat i kindly informed him on the advantages of the Z06 as opposed to a lambo, porsche, or a ferrari. then proceeded to deliver the death bolw to his rebuttal, the fuel ratings of 15/25. nothing sounds better than silence from the other party.

theres no excuse for a car company... gm, fomoco, or mopar, to not have at least one effective economical v8 in the line up. v6 is hitting the v8 ranges now and i feel certain days like that of the t-types are about to return.

[FUTURE_OF_GM]

i was discussing the Z06 (when new) talking about hand built this and weight saving that and 505hp to boot when a nurse in the ER decided to join in the conversation and boastfully state thats just great in an era with outrageous gas prices and the need for everyone to conserve leave it to a yahoo car company to bring out some gas hog sports car that has no purpose on the street but to say look at me and my salary. not skipping a beat i kindly informed him

LMFAO...

The way that was going, I'm surprised to see that this ignorant person actually has a set of balls, if you get my drift.

theres no excuse for a car company... gm, fomoco, or mopar, to not have at least one effective economical v8 in the line up. v6 is hitting the v8 ranges now and i feel certain days like that of the t-types are about to return.

I agree...

It's going to eventually boil down to preference. And if Detroit was forward thinking like they used to be, they'd capitalize on amercans' desire for BIG, V8 cars and the "freedom" they entail by developing their already class leading V8s into efficient, yet powerful beasts that no one could match. They could aid this by INFORMING the consumer that V8s aren't "the devil" and in fact say "Hey, why give up your freedom of choice. WE have the solution."

But alas, since Detroit now seems to be berept of any leadership or balls, I would expect the Koreans to come up with something like this. And even if Detroit was smart enough to pull it off technologically, they still have no clue how to inform the ignorant consumer of the virtues of freedom.

I hope the V8 sticks around... If not, it looks like I'll be buying used.