With oil prices going up daily and the big three trying to produce more economical cars, do you think this could be the last of the new V8 cars to come from GM? I am thinking of cars for the masses like the Camaro. I know the Vette will go on, but that is a premium vehicle.

 

i do know GM could move a bunch of 3 cyclinder geo metros if they had em...i know several guys who still have em and use em as a commuter vehicle..

 

It will always be a market for a V8 the demand may go down, but there will always be a home in America for a V8.

 

As long as it's profitable to still do so. Dodge, Ford , GM don't have the luxury
of building niche cars anymore. They financially just can't do it, at least not right
now.

 

V8 engines are going extinct in everything but very high performance cars and luxury sedans.

Today there is no practical reason to use a V8 in anything 320 horsepower. Pretty soon, V6s will be making 350 horsepower and then V8s will become unnecessary for anything below that level. Cadillac's Northstar is being pushed out by GM's DI 3.6. V8 will likely be powered by a version of the LS engine 5 years from now, and then only the high performance versions of it.

Over at Ford, once the Twin Force (nee Ecoboost) V6 is out, unless it's heavier than the current 4.6 V8 in the Mustang, it's going to be a better package in terms of power and fuel economy than the current V8 is, if not in cost of manufacture. But then that's going to be offset by jacking up the prices of V8s where ever they are an option.

Corvettes will awalys have them. They sell in too few numbers to be an issue. I think GM will make V8s in Camaros expensive. Cadillac's Northstar is being replaced by the DI V6, and performance models are going to wind up with a version of GM's high output LS engine. Ford Mustang GT's V8s have already climbed in price, but will be offset by the large numbers of small Fords they'll soon be producing. Chrysler just extended the life of their Hemi by adding some tricks to boost mileage to whare current 4.6 Mustangs are now.

V8s have already all but dissappeared in "regular" cars. V8s will soon be out in any volume cars that aren't relatively low production performance models that are priced at a premium.

The new V8s are high powered V6s.

With them breaking the 300 and soon 350 horsepower levels, only the most emotionally attached will miss them.

 

The Camaro always seems to get the Corvette's engine, so as long as there is a V8 in the Vette, I'm sure there will be a Camaro option with it.

 

Yes, we will.....

 

You need a V8 in trucks.

I think V8s will become extinct when gas engines do.

Or when cars like the Volt become mainstream we will see only very small displacement motors.

 

You're probably right. I think I should go record my GTs exhaust note for my future V6 car. It'll be a cold day in hell when my car sounds like a high-powered lawn mower.

 

Have you heard the exhaust note of the DI V6 Caddy CTS, yet? Very low and rumbly....very nice.

 

Bingo! Never say something will be around forever. Think about it, just 100 years ago (just a blink of an eye in respect to the age of the world), the V8 didn't even exist!

 

Europe pays about twice as much as we do for fuel, yet European manufacturers still continue to sell V8 (and V12) cars in Europe. Hmmmm.

 

I hate this misconception. This is total bull****.

Find me a 320hp V6 that makes the same horsepower and the same torque, over the same RPM range as a 320hp V8.

To make that kind of torque, you need displacement (or forced induction, but that has a similar effect regardless of the number of cylinders). Large displacement packages easier with more cylinders (to a point anyway), so V8s are still the ideal for the range of engines with enough displacement.

I would have no problem with a 6.0L V6, but the pistons and valves would have to be enormous, and that introduces packaging issues, not to mention circumventing the economies of scale you get from using similar parts and tooling for engines of different sizes.

 

Right. The V8 engines found in GM's performance cars are modified versions of what is needed for the truck market. As long as there's a market for V8 trucks, there will be some V8 cars to go along with it.

 

Actually he's right. Besides trucks there is no PRACTICAL reason to use a V8 under 320hp. In reality there is very little practical reason to have more than 320hp. But we want more than 320hp and we want a V8.