Finally, a Fully Respectable High-Volume 4-Cyl. Engine

A quick count of this year?s 10 Best Engines award winners reveals no fewer than six 4-bangers: two turbocharged, two HEVs, one diesel and even one naturally aspirated, workaday 4-cyl. engine ? General Motors Co.?s 2.4L Ecotec.

?In the Equinox,? Ward?s editors raved, ?this engine never fails to delight with ready throttle response and strong mid-range acceleration.?

Several were ?astonished to achieve 30 mpg (7.8L/100 km) in the Equinox in mixed driving, without babying it.? And we?ll bet some, if they had not known it was a 4-cyl., might have mistaken it for a V-6 as many other reviewers have.

******* That will be a first for GM...

Sounds a lot like the VW turbo motor... based on an early 70's design... not saying that the GM motor isn't good (I have no experience with it) but there have been excellent four-poppers available for decades.

nate

True, there have been, Nate, but I cant remember GM making any of them.

Depends on your definition of "excellent." I've had a 2.0 Cav and a 2.2 Corsica that both ran past +120k miles when I junked them because of body rot. Total engine work done: 1 water pump on the 2.0.

+30 mpg highway, and +20mpg city. All "excellent" to me. Of course they were dogs accelerating. I rented a 2005 Malibu with the Ecotec for a long trip, and it was a world of difference. I was impressed. I'll might end up with an Ecotec in my next new used car. First I heard of them was a workmate with a Ecotec Malibu asked for my "dealing with mechanics" advice back in about 2002. His water pump failed and his mech told him he might need new heads. Only had about 60k miles on it. Turned out he didn't, but he still dished out $600 for the stuff under the cam cover. I read up the Ecotec a bit and saw it was OHC, and figured I'd never see one, being happy with pushrods, timing chains and external mounted water pumps. Still am, but I might not much choice when I get my next car. Wish we had the dealer mechs here like before. Shiden was one. They could tell you the good/bad about various engines because they saw them all day. In any case the Ecotec was a real game changer for GM. Too bad it's the ninth inning. I did see on an Ecotec forum a way to change out the water pump through a cam cover access panel without moving the timing belt. That was encouraging. Maybe I can get over my distaste for OHC.

--Vic

You might be right about these being a good engine. I had a Cavalier with the 2L. I could never understand how I could get 27 MPG on that pushrod engine while I never got more than 21 MPG from all my other cars.

I though the car accelerated just fine, although I admit that stomping on the gas ain't my thing. Next to my Subaru, it was a top-fuel dragster. The Subaru engine was such a dog that turning on the AC would cause a noticeable drag on the engine. :-)

The 2.0 and 2.2 were the only 4's I ever drove before the Ecotec. Massive difference. I'm not a speed demon either, but liked the margin I get with a 6 or 8 for merging onto the highway or those dicey situations when a tap on the gas can quickly move you out of danger. But I only had the 2.0 and 2.2 to compare to. Many times with them I'd not turn into a street with fast traffic until I had a big gap because they had trouble getting out of the way. The Ecotec Malibu did all that fine. Thought it was a 6 when I first drove it off the rental lot. Opened the hood when I got it home to check fluids before the trip, and got surprised. Not sure what Ecotec that was in 2005 - probably 2.2. Looks like the Ecotec has gone through some changes. Right now I'm basically blind about its issues, if any. That failed water pump my workmate had wasn't encouraging, but that was an older one, and could be a fluke, You'd think that if GM is going to bury the water pump, they'd use better pumps than they have in the past. And maybe they do. I just don't know. Like I said, it was good when dealer mechs like Shiden were posting here. Probably have to start looking in the forums.

--Vic

I had the Cavalier for a few years. The engine never caused any problems, although I had to change that famous GM alternator a couple of times. My wife rammed into a car and pushed it into another car while going too fast in the rain. Totaled the car in the middle. I was a little shocked to see that the front end was in pretty good shape. I had to replace one of the headlights and one of the parking light bulb - the support for the filament was bent 90 degrees so the forces involved were considerable. I replaced the two energy absorbing thingies and the bumper with junkyard parts and drove it for a year or two more. That was a pretty good car for us.

I recently sold my Ford Taurus and thought I'd change the oil for good luck but I couldn't get the drain plug out. Then I remembered that my brother-in-laws saying something about changing the oil. They must have taken it to Jiffy Lube or Sears. My guess is that torque those things on so that you can never change the oil by yourself again. Ha ha. I never did change that oil.

I never had to do much to the car but when I did buy parts I couldn't believe how cheap Chevy parts are. Now that I own a Toyota and a Hyundai I'm pretty much dead meat as far as the cost of parts are concerned.

I have my 2006 Hyundai at the dealer as they have graciously offered to replace my AC evaporator under the 5 year - 50K mile warranty. Lucky that the warranty is transferable (I'm the 3rd owner) - otherwise, I'd really be dead meat. :-)