The LS7 wouldn’t last very long pulling a 5k lb Escalade with a 10k lb trailer behind it, the engine is made for performance only, not pulling. You have to tailor an engine for the vehicle and the jobs the vehicle will be doing.

Why are people complaining? As far as I can see GM is whooping every other brands ass in new technology and offerings and here people are complaining. Sounds like someone may be jealous.

I think the real problem is that most people don’t know the recent history of the LS motors. The LS1 may be the most potent motor ever built as far as durability, modability, and performance, and this is coming from a Ford guy at heart. The 4.6 and 5.4 Ford engines are great, but from what I’ve seen the LS motors are unbeatable on many levels.

GM is being very smart by doing this, as they have created a mini-family of engines that they can spawn new variants of with very little relative cost. Aftermarket enthusiasts will also love the compatibility factor. Think back to the fun LS1 F-body owners had with LS6-intended parts.

What’s the point of having 4 of them, each putting out 500 hp?

There’s no real distinction in newer engines to determine big and small blocks. Take the 351W SVO block. It can be stroked to as much as 460ci and it’s pretty much a bulletproof motor. The old stigmas like bad mpg’s that went along with the big muscle car engines of the 60 and 70s is really not true anymore, they’ve really figured out how to get good results from these things all the while increasing the power to unheard of levels.

Have you seen the MPG of the LS2? It gets 30mpg highway. GM is very aware of fuel consumption and they are very good at making effcient engines.

Who carse if the LS engines are considered old technology, they’ll run circles around any other car out there.

Also, adding forced induction will allow for the kind of big HP numbers needed to compete in todays sports car market without driving up displacement and therefore gas consumption. A supercharged car can be more efficient when not driven hard. I’ll bet that these engines will get fairly good economy on the highway when you consider how much power they are capable of.

Not to mention the upcoming Volt and two-stage hybrid systems.

Still, the answer to longevity is not likely to be found in V-8s. You can only sell so many Corvettes, before you *have* to move Malibus

This is just an example of continued engenering of a good basic concept. Sure there are more sophisticated and efficient engine designs, but these are durable, powerfull engines.

It puts me in the mind of Porsche continuing to persue the 911 platform despite the drawbacks to that engine layout design. It has been stated that this is a triumph of engineering over physics.

As for why not more power from so much displacement? Well, they have proven they can get more with the 650HP version. You have to realize that the 450HP versions will be mass produced engines that will have some cost concesions and need to be durable.

Sure a lot of brands are getting more HP per liter of displacement. But, the higher the HP to displacement ratio, the higher the dollar to displacement. I think the example of the BMW above is a bad example to the contrary. It is getting 300HP per 3 liters with low levels of boost vs 450 HP per 6.2 liters, not a good comparison. It doesn’t matter that there are 2 turbos, that is simply to allow smaller turbines to reduce lag.

No doubt that like most factory boosted engines, the superchargers on these engines are running at pitifully low psi. Anyone who buys one of these cars and doesn’t give a crap about warranty could probably pump 800hp out of it relatively easily. GM’s V8s have always had easily unlockable power.

This new line of 6.2L supercharged engines make me think about the old Grand Prix GTPs and how easy is was to make those 3.8L supercharged V6s fly. This is that, times two.

As for those complaining about lack of huge amounts of power stock, must I remind everyone that BMW “only” makes 300hp out of 6-cylinder engine with TWO turbos? It doesn’t matter, the BMW 3.0 twin-turbo I6 is still an amazing engine.

As for the LS7, I hear a non-handbuilt version will still exist in some form or another.

I agree with the others, perhaps GM should focus on more fuel efficient motors, but I think they already have a line of efficient motors they sell in Europe like the ecotec motors. Also, GM does produce buses that are hybrid, so it’s not like they are behind in the game. I think they choose to give Americans crap.

This list also ignores recent facts shown in UAW production plan documents, such as a 6.2L DOHC V-8 engine, and the 6.2L direct injection E-85 engine that GM is currently testing in an Escalade mule. I guess technically the 6.2L DOHC won’t be considered an LS series engine, so I’ll cut some slack there.

1. They shouldn’t even bother with an Escalade V. I think Cadillac has a really good thing going with the V series, and I don’t see a reason to water it down by stuffing an engine into it that will be relatively underpowered when compared with the enormous bulk of the vehicle. It’s not going to impress anyone other than people who were going to buy an Escalade anyway.

2. Shouldn’t the top of line Camaro be the SS? I mean, you could argue for days as to which trim was traditionally the better of the two: SS or Z28. But it seems to me that the SS was always slightly more premium with whatever the top of the line engine at the time happened to be. A kind of “king of the road” car, if you will. Whereas the Z28 was always a bit more basic usually with a smaller (although by no means underpowered) engine, which ended up paying dividends with regard to weight savings and distribution, resulting in what might be a more race-worthy car.

3. Should the CTS-V actually get a more powerful engine than the Camaro? I guess it makes sense if you think about the hierarchy of GM sports cars as being Camaro, CTS-V, Corvette, but I dunno… it just doesn’t seem right somehow. And I suppose it’s entirely possible for the Camaro to be lighter than the CTS by enough of a margin that it would ultimately offset the extra power in the Cadillac.