Five Vehicles You Wouldn’t Expect to Have a Corvette Engine
Used Car Review
Car Comparison
For decades, enthusiasts have plunged Corvette engines into cars you wouldn’t expect to have them. On uncommon occasions, the enthusiasts at GM got to do the same. Here are five vehicles you most likely wouldn’t expect to have an engine from a Chevy Corvette — but they do, from the factory.
1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS
The 1994-1996 Impala SS is a modern-day classic. It has that mid-’90s muscle-sedan look that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but it truly is one of Chevrolet’s good modern muscle cars to date. This is an interesting car: It had a 260-horsepower LT1 V8, with sequential port fuel injection and, unluckily, a 4-speed automatic transmission. Yes, a 4-speed automatic transmission; best compared to a loving grandfather who’s old-fashioned and resentful of the Boomers, but still a loyal man once you get past the prickly prospect of dealing with him. Purists called for a manual, but reminisce: This is the mid ’90s, and automatics were, believe it or not, desirable. Plus, let’s be fair: GM didn’t want to engineer a 3-pedal setup for this thing. But despite its transmission woes, this muscle-sedan could hit sixty miles per hour in around seven seconds, which was comparable to German sport sedans of the era. So yes, the 1994-1996 Impala SS, which weighs as much as a puny tank, is well deserving of its placement on this list.
1994-1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate
The Buick Roadmaster; preferred car of your grandfather and your family attempting to recreate the 1950s. There’s nothing particularly special about it, aside from the fact that it has room for an entire Florida retirement community and shares an engine with a Corvette. You won’t love the V8 too much, however, as the suspension is tremendously soft, the transmission is abate and the car is massive: Four,500 pounds, with an overall length of almost two hundred twenty inches. That being said, the Five.7-liter 260-hp engine is nothing to scoff at — but if you plan on taking the entire retirement community out to brunch, the Corvette powerplant may fight to maintain its spectacle.
Saab 9-7X Aero and Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS
I’ve written before about how the basis for these two SUVs is something of a BMW knockoff — with its choices inbetween rear- or all-wheel drive, inline six and almost tasteful styling. However, these two brutes eschew the straight-six of the base-level TrailBlazer (and its other more pedestrian badge brothers) for a screaming 6.0-liter LS2 V8 engine. Unusually for GM SUVs of the time, these have maintained high resale value — and, if you know what they are, high desirability.
2004-2006 Pontiac GTO, two thousand nine Pontiac G8 GXP, 2014-2017 Chevrolet SS
These three seemingly very different cars have a few things in common. All are Australian in heritage, sharing their chassis with the contemporary Holden Commodores. Each had subtle styling that was criticized at the time for being too modest; the GTO was called out for not having the looks of a real muscle car, the G8 was panned for looking like a knockoff BMW M5, and the SS was derisively compared to the more pedestrian, slower, front-wheel drive Malibu and Impala. However, if you want an American (sort of) highway missile that doesn’t scream “ticket me!” fairly as loudly as a Mustang or Camaro, these muscly chameleons may be for you.
As for the matter of propulsion, the two thousand four GTO has the Five.7-liter LS1 V8, the 2005-2006 GTO has the 6.0-liter LS2 V8, and the G8 GXP and SS pack the mighty 6.2-liter LS3 V8.
Five Vehicles You Wouldn t Expect to Have a Corvette Engine
Five Vehicles You Wouldn’t Expect to Have a Corvette Engine
Used Car Review
Car Comparison
For decades, enthusiasts have jammed Corvette engines into cars you wouldn’t expect to have them. On uncommon occasions, the enthusiasts at GM got to do the same. Here are five vehicles you very likely wouldn’t expect to have an engine from a Chevy Corvette — but they do, from the factory.
1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS
The 1994-1996 Impala SS is a modern-day classic. It has that mid-’90s muscle-sedan look that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but it truly is one of Chevrolet’s excellent modern muscle cars to date. This is an interesting car: It had a 260-horsepower LT1 V8, with sequential port fuel injection and, unluckily, a 4-speed automatic transmission. Yes, a 4-speed automatic transmission; best compared to a loving grandfather who’s old-fashioned and resentful of the Boomers, but still a loyal man once you get past the prickly prospect of dealing with him. Purists called for a manual, but recall: This is the mid ’90s, and automatics were, believe it or not, desirable. Plus, let’s be fair: GM didn’t want to engineer a 3-pedal setup for this thing. But despite its transmission woes, this muscle-sedan could hit sixty miles per hour in around seven seconds, which was comparable to German sport sedans of the era. So yes, the 1994-1996 Impala SS, which weighs as much as a petite tank, is well deserving of its placement on this list.
1994-1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate
The Buick Roadmaster; preferred car of your grandfather and your family attempting to recreate the 1950s. There’s nothing particularly special about it, aside from the fact that it has room for an entire Florida retirement community and shares an engine with a Corvette. You won’t love the V8 too much, however, as the suspension is tremendously soft, the transmission is abate and the car is massive: Four,500 pounds, with an overall length of almost two hundred twenty inches. That being said, the Five.7-liter 260-hp engine is nothing to scoff at — but if you plan on taking the entire retirement community out to brunch, the Corvette powerplant may fight to maintain its spectacle.
Saab 9-7X Aero and Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS
I’ve written before about how the basis for these two SUVs is something of a BMW knockoff — with its choices inbetween rear- or all-wheel drive, inline six and almost tasteful styling. However, these two brutes eschew the straight-six of the base-level TrailBlazer (and its other more pedestrian badge brothers) for a screaming 6.0-liter LS2 V8 engine. Unusually for GM SUVs of the time, these have maintained high resale value — and, if you know what they are, high desirability.
2004-2006 Pontiac GTO, two thousand nine Pontiac G8 GXP, 2014-2017 Chevrolet SS
These three seemingly very different cars have a few things in common. All are Australian in heritage, sharing their chassis with the contemporary Holden Commodores. Each had subtle styling that was criticized at the time for being too modest; the GTO was called out for not having the looks of a real muscle car, the G8 was panned for looking like a knockoff BMW M5, and the SS was derisively compared to the more pedestrian, slower, front-wheel drive Malibu and Impala. However, if you want an American (sort of) highway missile that doesn’t scream “ticket me!” fairly as loudly as a Mustang or Camaro, these muscly chameleons may be for you.
As for the matter of propulsion, the two thousand four GTO has the Five.7-liter LS1 V8, the 2005-2006 GTO has the 6.0-liter LS2 V8, and the G8 GXP and SS pack the mighty 6.2-liter LS3 V8.
Five Vehicles You Wouldn t Expect to Have a Corvette Engine
Five Vehicles You Wouldn’t Expect to Have a Corvette Engine
Used Car Review
Car Comparison
For decades, enthusiasts have tucked Corvette engines into cars you wouldn’t expect to have them. On infrequent occasions, the enthusiasts at GM got to do the same. Here are five vehicles you most likely wouldn’t expect to have an engine from a Chevy Corvette — but they do, from the factory.
1994-1996 Chevrolet Impala SS
The 1994-1996 Impala SS is a modern-day classic. It has that mid-’90s muscle-sedan look that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but it truly is one of Chevrolet’s excellent modern muscle cars to date. This is an interesting car: It had a 260-horsepower LT1 V8, with sequential port fuel injection and, unluckily, a 4-speed automatic transmission. Yes, a 4-speed automatic transmission; best compared to a loving grandfather who’s old-fashioned and resentful of the Boomers, but still a loyal man once you get past the prickly prospect of dealing with him. Purists called for a manual, but reminisce: This is the mid ’90s, and automatics were, believe it or not, desirable. Plus, let’s be fair: GM didn’t want to engineer a 3-pedal setup for this thing. But despite its transmission woes, this muscle-sedan could hit sixty miles per hour in around seven seconds, which was comparable to German sport sedans of the era. So yes, the 1994-1996 Impala SS, which weighs as much as a puny tank, is well deserving of its placement on this list.
1994-1996 Buick Roadmaster Estate
The Buick Roadmaster; preferred car of your grandfather and your family attempting to recreate the 1950s. There’s nothing particularly special about it, aside from the fact that it has room for an entire Florida retirement community and shares an engine with a Corvette. You won’t love the V8 too much, however, as the suspension is tremendously soft, the transmission is abate and the car is massive: Four,500 pounds, with an overall length of almost two hundred twenty inches. That being said, the Five.7-liter 260-hp engine is nothing to scoff at — but if you plan on taking the entire retirement community out to brunch, the Corvette powerplant may fight to maintain its spectacle.
Saab 9-7X Aero and Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS
I’ve written before about how the basis for these two SUVs is something of a BMW knockoff — with its choices inbetween rear- or all-wheel drive, inline six and almost tasteful styling. However, these two brutes eschew the straight-six of the base-level TrailBlazer (and its other more pedestrian badge brothers) for a screaming 6.0-liter LS2 V8 engine. Unusually for GM SUVs of the time, these have maintained high resale value — and, if you know what they are, high desirability.
2004-2006 Pontiac GTO, two thousand nine Pontiac G8 GXP, 2014-2017 Chevrolet SS
These three seemingly very different cars have a few things in common. All are Australian in heritage, sharing their chassis with the contemporary Holden Commodores. Each had subtle styling that was criticized at the time for being too modest; the GTO was called out for not having the looks of a real muscle car, the G8 was panned for looking like a knockoff BMW M5, and the SS was derisively compared to the more pedestrian, slower, front-wheel drive Malibu and Impala. However, if you want an American (sort of) highway missile that doesn’t scream “ticket me!” fairly as loudly as a Mustang or Camaro, these muscly chameleons may be for you.
As for the matter of propulsion, the two thousand four GTO has the Five.7-liter LS1 V8, the 2005-2006 GTO has the 6.0-liter LS2 V8, and the G8 GXP and SS pack the mighty 6.2-liter LS3 V8.