I keep hearing about how the ecotech I4 was disigned to use VVT and direct gas injection but it currently doesn't have either of these.

the 140HP ecotech is GMs only car I4, this seeems pretty week compared to the 160HP+ I4s in the Accords and Altimas.

anyone know anything about the future of the Ecotech? Glad to see the S/C 2.0L is on its way, but what about the N/A 2.2L?

Can the new Colorado 175HP 2.8L I4 be used in a FWD car?

 

I'm not sure exactly when. At some point you can expect to see some of the heavier duty, premium features of the Euro 2.0 Ecotec...to reach the more pedestrian North American Ecotec.

BTW...the reason that the new S/C Ecotec displaces 2.0L, is because it is the Euro version.

Apparently, the North American Ecotec is designed more for low cost vs performance. From what I hear superchargers and North American Ecotecs don't mix.

 

Why is it that the Ecotech I4 and the 3800 V6 seem to be far behind in power to the competitions versions of these engines? Has GM cut down on money going into R&D in these lately?

 

Well, as far as I can see...it's only been recently that GMNA has started to consider our Ecotec as a "performance" engine. Up until now GMNA has seen the Ecotec as a base prime mover, not wanting to spend the money on overbuilding it.

Remember..the Euro Ecotec was designed to be used in among other things....turbo Saabs. They have stronger blocks, stronger bottom ends, better valvetrains and oil squirters to cool pistons .

 

This is interesting because a GM rep visited my local Saturn dealer and told them within the next year Saturn dealers will be offering a dealer installed Supercharger for the 2.2 Ecotech Sedans and Coupes . While the Redline will be a limited OEM produced car, GM is expecting that some people might want some of the features of the Redline in the standard coupes and sedans.

It will be interesting if the 2004 Ecotechs will be built-up better for these aftermarket mods or we will see how reliable the current US ecotech are with aftermarket S/C's and etc. I does seem like it will pretty pricey to have an S/C installed by a dealer since most aftermarket S/C installations come close to $3000-$4000.

A loaded Ion coupe MSRP is around $21,000 (before huge rebates) and when you add an aftermarket $4,000 Supercharger and some other performance mods its going to make these dealers installed tuner Ions close to $25,000 each (ouch!!).

I would think that the 2004 OEM Ion Redlines will have a base price of around $20,000 before options like wings ($400), leather interior ($800), sunroof ($800), upgraded stereo systems ($600), and etc.

 

Basically.

But don't hate on the 3800 Series II... it's a decade old engine. 200HP was pretty decent when it debuted.

 

Yea but their still using it...they should have at least tweaked it a little more since then. At least the 3.9 is coming soon...

 

Anyone know if the new Colorado 175HP 2.8L I4 can be used in a FWD car?