King Moose SS

LS4! time for GM to make it RWD, give it some juice and let it be an option. Think about it. the Challenger has 3 model engines. 3.5 V6, 5.7 V8, and 6.1 V8.

The 5.7l has active fuel management..... LS4 has it too, itd be a good compare. (As long as it gets pumped to 350-375ish hp range not 303hp)

supernova1972

Then with the cost of the retrofit and retune it would cost as much for the ls4 as the ls3. Great idea.

JakeRobb

On the contrary, I think the performance (in a straight line, anyway) is quite comparable. C&D tested a 1LT at 14.5@99 -- my GN runs the same MPH.

Of course you can.

RussStang

Seeing that it says you can run regular in the driver's manual, I would think they would warranty it if anything happened. I have not heard any horror stories of late model cars that are totally stock where people have run regular in premium engines and had catastrophic failure, or even problems at all. A weak sauce v8 would be redundant, and unlikely to get much improved fuel economy.

I have no problem believing the new car gets better than advertised mpg. My 4th gen does all the time, especially highway mileage. Want a weak v8? Drive with a weak foot, or put something under the gas pedal. Problem solved.

King Moose SS

How bout Make a lightweight, Direct Injection (to save gas) version of the LS1?

RussStang

Because the LS1 has been out of production for half a decade.

King Moose SS

Still one of the most successful engines... I mean Ford is going to bring back the 5.0. GM could easily resurrect the 5.7. and drop it into the camaro to narrow the gap LS to SS. It's just a thought...

supernova1972

Whcih GM would have to charge more for the R&D causing the price to be the same as the ls3/l99. Why is that hard to understand?

Ford is bringing back the 5.0. They are making a DOHC modular motor that displaces 5 liters. Not the old 5.0

King Moose SS

Its just a thought! Gosh, you have no imagination........

You make it sound like all GM's R&D projects cost the same.... the 5.7 has already been produced. To modify it, test it, and put it in production would be cheaper than creating a whole new small block.

supernova1972

Do you have any idea how much it would cost to put a motor that hasnt been produced in 5 years back into production, retrofit it for drive by wire, and tune it for the new application would cost? It isn't a simple bolt up.

Spending lots of money to make a car slower is a dumb idea.

King Moose SS

you haven't even thought about what possibilties could be done, and thats a failure I can't bring out of you.

supernova1972

That the dumbest statement ever. It WOULD cost GM money they have to charge the customer, It WOULD run slower than the same price larger v8. How do you not understand this concept? The possibilty is a v8 that doesnt sell because there is no point in it. If anything the ls3 is the mid v8 and the top of the line isnt here yet. Why do you think they havnt released a z28 yet? Because the cost of retrofitting the ls9, a motor already in production, would not be benificial to GM at the moment.

The only possibilty is that you actually have less intelligent thought about this than the OP. You would bring anything out of me, just make me dumber by believeing a low powered v8 that cost the same would be a good move for GM.

JakeRobb

Imagination is one thing, but you're suggesting something that will simply never happen. The LS1 is gone forever from new production cars, and saying that they should "add direct injection to an LS1" grossly oversimplifies the production engineering process behind creating a new engine. It's possible that a Gen5 (or later) LS engine will displace 346ci and have direct injection, but I suspect that even that is unlikely (since the bore on the LS1 is too small to support the L92 head design, which is GM's best to date). Then again, Gen5 will have entirely redesigned heads (to add support for direct injection), so there's no way to be sure.

This is completely incorrect.

They haven't released a Z28 yet because they don't have the money to spare to start production. The car is designed and ready to go -- GM has said so publicly. It uses the LSA (which is a variation on the LS9, making 556hp in the CTS-V).

Building and selling a Z28 would almost certainly be beneficial to GM right now -- high-end performance cars generally make a higher profit per vehicle. However, there are significant costs that must be incurred before they can begin selling Z28s, and for now they still can't get credit to take on such expenses.

RussStang

Besides, even if GM was not in the financial toilet right now, historically with the pony/muscle cars, the top model is typically introduced a year after the remodeled car has started selling. This of course is not a hard and fast guideline, but it should come as no surprise to anyone that we don't have a top v8 Camaro at the moment.

AdioSS

there are some closed minded people in this thread...