teal98

But they're hardly high performance engines these days, and they have the same displacement limitation as the modular engines. Even GM can't afford two different V8s anymore, as evidenced by the cancellation of the replacement.


I should amend my previous post. The FWD V8s made sense in the 90s, when power levels of the V6s were lower. Though I think that exclusive FWD cost Cadillac dearly (Catera doesn't count) in the prestige market of the era.

guionM

Ya made a common error here.

The Lincoln LS's 3.9 is NOT a small displacement version of Ford's Modular engine....it's actually a Jaguar's AJ series V8 engine! It's basically the same V8 engine from the Jaguar XJ & XK8. Some of the engineering shares common ideas since Ford owned Jaguar, but the Jaguar V8 is NOT a Ford modular engine.

The Lincoln LS is essentially a Jaguar S-type under the sheetmetal, and was engineered around Jaguar engines. Ford's Modualar engine is physically wider (I believe because the Jag engine uses a narrower angle "V" than the traditional 90 degree Ford) and the fact that the DOHC Ford's with clearence was barely more than fractions of an inch. Besides, Ford saved engineering costs in simply using the Jag engine since the entire package was alread engineered for it..... yes, the 400 horse supercharged version in the Jaguar S Type R should bolt right in.

The Jag V8s have proven to be bulletproof, and considering we're talking V8s with the displacement of V6s in standard Camaros of the day, 280 normally aspirated horsepower is pretty impressive by early decade standards.

During the early days of Ford's self destruction, McLauren was developing a performance version of the LS for Lincoln. It was to have a supercharger and a hot handling upgrade. It encouraged GM to include a hot version of the CTS in their plans, which initially called for a turbo V6. If Ford had stuck with the supercharged LS, it would have not only gotten to market before the CTSv (by roughly 2 years), given the LS's similar curb weight to the CTS, it would have made a very intresting matchup.

I can't argue with you on the perception that Ford can't avoid shooting itself in the foot. Most of the past 10 years, Ford hasn't exactly been confidence inspiring.

teal98

I know all that. Note that I wrote only that it was smaller, not a smaller Modular engine.

The Jag V8 is a 90 degree just like the Mod. Maybe it has a shorter stroke and that's why it's smaller?

It may be a fine engine, but it's worst in class in HP and TQ, except when it had the Lincoln version around to be better than.

And I don't buy HP/liter, I buy HP. For the 2003 model year (the first year of the 280hp LS), you could get a 260hp G35 or a 280hp LS. The LS was quite a bit pricier, but no faster. The V6 LS may have had 232 (?) or so hp, but it was way up in the rev range, and the car was still slow.

I really liked the styling of the LS, but I didn't like the HP. So I bought a Camaro.