[Speculation] New Popular Mechanics Article
 

Lot's of tidbits:

Larry Webster Article, published 8/21/08.

thanks man! That was a good read indeed. I didn't finish reading all of it the first time i saw it friday but thanks for the link again.

I hope it wasn't a :_dupe:

Nice article.

Fun read, Thx :cheers:

good read

The article mentions the twin clutch transmission and it's cost (half BILLION dollars to develop???). Is Webster telling us that Mitsubishi spent a half BILLION to develop the new tranny in the Evo? And Nissan in the GT-R, and VW in the Audi TT 3.2 and various VW's? Does Mitsu build that transmission? Does Nissan or VW/Audi? I am not sure, but I don't think they do. I find those $$$ impossible to believe, surely the transmission builders shoulder a lot of this development cost along the car builders. Tremec makes the current Corvette manuals, does GM pay ALL the costs and then hand the finished transmission over and say "Build this for us"? Maybe I don't understand the transmission world.

So...I guess I'm calling BS unless someone has a better answer.

Jimmy

:iagree: That sounds just plain preposterous. As you mentioned, Tremec makes the current tranny and they also use those in the Vipers. So who pays? I think he got an extra "0" on that number.

Hmmm...
The next Corvette will be slightly smaller, lighter, and use smaller engines with turbocharging to keep up the power.
Nothing new about that.
The part I don't believe is the 2012 time frame. That's only 4 years from now, and GM doesn't have the money to do much development that quickly. So, the C7 will probably appear in 2014 or later, or it will be just a warmed-over C6 with some lightweight pieces and a smaller but turbocharged engine.

Besides, didn't one of the GM engineers at Bloomington Gold say that C7 project had been cancelled? It will restart some day, but this soon?

A smaller turbo charged V6 for the Corvette would be a HUGE mistake. It MAY be able to produce lots of horsepower but it's just not the same without the torque. People buy Vettes for the torque. If they go the way of the smaller imports, they will have lots of competition from Japan and others. It will be the end of the Corvette.

Besides, haven't they already proven that a pushrod, normally aspirated V8 makes just as good if not BETTER mileage than those "smaller" turbo charged, multi cammed cars? to wit: Porsche, BMW and many others? Furthermore, those "smaller" turbo charged engines may have a smaller displacement but they are physically larger, heavier and have much more parasitic loss/drag. So I don't see the argument against a V8. jmho but it aint gonna happen.

I totally agree. It completely "cheapens" the car. You can't get the same sound, nor smoothness with a V6 no matter what you do to it. It would kill Corvette sales. That would be like taking the Harley Davidson engine, which Harley Davidson actually patented the sound of, and replacing the V-twin with a one cylinder engine.

The small block V8 is the heart of the Corvette. Stupid idea to change that!

Michael

It is now.


However, many posters seem to forget the heritage of the Corvette is the Blue Flame straight six.

I agree that most vette owners would prefer a v8. I have read that Direct Injection yields more Hp as well as better fuel economy. I think that there is still a good bit of technology that could be used on a v8 that would help it to meet future mileage goals.

:iagree:

all I have to say is LOL,,, alot.. If any of you think gm is going to put anything short of another large displacement v8 in the next vette, you are completely :willy:..

The amount of money that has been POURED into the new generation of lsx based motors will not be just wasted by starting all over. If anything they will spend more money on DISPLACEMENT ON DEMAND technology and weight loss..

My escalade gets over 20 mpg's on the highway (2007) and it is a heavy mofo, The corvette gets higher gas milage now, then some economy cars.. The money, and the technology will all be about weight savings. They can't make the car smaller, it just got to the point that they are usable in the everyday arena. That is part of the reason they sell everyone they make, and they know this..


This happened in the 90's when Ford was going to make the mustang out of what turned out to be the probe, yes look it up, the horrible little probe was the sure fire replacement for the Mustang..

To all the tried and true corvette followers out there, sleep well, the FLAG SHIP of GM will never fall to the Gas misers or penny pinchers..:flag:

:iagree:

I think you'll see a direct injection engine in the next Corvette.

I also think it is likely that Gen V will be DI, and most likely have some form of vvt since the GM pushrod V6s and the L92 currently have it. That article mentions TTv6s, I'd be interested to know how much the LLT (3.6L DI caddy engine) weighs, as well as some exterior dimmensions. It wouldn't surprise me if this DOHC v6 is physically larger, and heavier with the added weight of Turbos and associated piping to go with it. Not sure a 3.6L V6 with TTs would fit under the Vette's hood line, and I'm not convinced there would be any real world benefit to mileage or performance. People often forget how light and physically small for their displacement the Gen III+ GM V8 engines are, plus their off-idle torque makes pulling over drives to get near 30mpg on the highway possible.

:iagree: Haven't all the companies from Europe and Japan already proven that turbo charged or supercharged 4 and 6 cylinder multivalve engines don't save any fuel? Any Porsche with a 4 cylinder turbo motor that makes any where near the power of a LS3 sucks down just as much fuel if not more.:crazy:

Ding. We have a winner.I certainly would not drive a V6 turbo Corvette.
:cheers: