What once seemed sacrilegious is becoming a reality. This fall, Chevrolet will introduce the 2016 Camaro with a twist: the base model will be powered by General Motors’ LTG 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine.
Entry level power for one of America’s longest standing muscle car nameplates will be coming from a displacement the size of your local cola bottle. Who thought we’d see the day.
While many will scoff, joke and poke fun at the idea, the proof is in the power. Or, in this case, the torque.
The 2.0-liter turbo-four will be packing a 275 hp, 295 lb-ft of torque punch when it debuts this fall in the 2016 Camaro. By comparison, the LGX 3.6-liter V6 produces substantially more horsepower, 60 more ponies, but is down on torque with only 284 lb-ft.
What are we doing comparing these two engines when the traditional choice for a Camaro is a big, burly V8 engine? Well, the sixth-generation Camaro isn’t about tradition.
The move to offer a turbocharged four-cylinder in the 2016 Camaro is a bold, but brilliant branding move, on Chevrolet’s part. Allow us to elaborate.
Chevrolet currently lacks a nimble, sporty coupe or hatchback to fill the Internet Generation’s driveways with. These are the guys and gals who grew up in the heyday of sport infused imports, not the generation who listened to The Beach Boys sing about Chevrolet’s 409.
Those not-so little guys and gals are driving now, and they’re scooping up hot offerings from Ford, Volkswagen Subaru and Scion, a brand crafted specifically for the youngins’, while those searching within the General Motors portfolio will have to move right along.
Now, Chevrolet has crafted the perfect concoction to win back those buyers on the tactile Alpha platform with a turbo-four Camaro. And, Chevrolet gets to do it without any new model introduction, leaving the Tru 140S and Code 130R concepts stillborn with good reason.
Not only has the Camaro’s relevance been extended tremendously, allowing the LT1 6.2-liter V8 to become a halo on top of the car’s lineup, but they’ve read the market intelligently, and answered a niche with a swift-turbocharged kick.
We’ve watched the sport coupe market wither away over the past 15 years, with a turn to hot hatches as the spiritual successor of the long-gone, but not forgotten, sport coupes of yesteryear. Therefore, maybe it’s not a bad thing Chevrolet lacks a performance oriented hatchback. They’ve reached back into what their market research tells them young car buyers still want: affordable, sporty cars.
And they’ve made a smart move.
At a time of year when luxury car ATP usually rises.
Sales decreased 5.6 percent to 16,670 units during the first ten months of 2024.
Specifically critical minerals supply chain development.
Scheduled for a Spring 2025 launch.
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4 cylinder Camaro is dumb, stupid, idiotic and moronic. It's existence is for govt satisfaction only. The import 4 cyl crowd doesn't consider Camaros and I don't want them to. It's more fun roasting them with a real V8 machine. Chevy let us down offering the 4-cyl.
Might the turbo guy neverconsidered it because it never had a turbo?
Yeah! Screw turbos! There's no reason for the Camaro to use forced induction to have competitive advantage in a performance car! Why, ONLY non-GM cars should use turbos!
Forget the Corvair and it's revolutionary application of forced induction! We need to shun technology and bring back iron blocks!
Your stupid as fuck. Many people will want the 4 cyl Camaro including myself. Just because your retarded, doesn't mean other people won't like it
I am almost 30 and I like the 4 cylinder turbo Camaro because I want a sporty car but I drive a lot and want good fuel economy. Not everyone is about powerful V8's and drag racing. With everything else in life going up in price paying top dollar for a motor you can find in a car costing much less money is frustrating and makes purchasing sport coupes even less practical. Sure the base mustang may not have as much tech but you can get 300hp on regular fuel for $25k.
My second car was a 1987 Camaro 2.8L V6 T-top and although slow, I loved that car. Now into 2016 I agree with the post above, over the years of ownership the cost of premium fuel in the turbo will offset the extra purchase cost of the V6 which has far more power on regular fuel.
I'd like to see the msrp decrease for the current output or at least bump the power to 300hp/300tq for it's current price.
A dealer let me take home a 2017 auto/V6 RS for the weekend and I put 300 miles on it and had a blast and was making plans to buy it this weekend. Yesterday the Turbo models got an additional $1,500 rebate and the same dealer had a turbo, RS, auto with the Technology Package and it dropped the price to a hair over $25k so I went back and drove it today and I absolutely fell in love. The gen 6 Camaro is already light on its feet, but the turbo really makes the front end razor sharp and noticeably better than the V6 RS. I love the turbo rush and have missed it since the days of my WRX and it took me all of about 10 miles to decide to buy the turbo RS. My guess is the dealer had put regular gas it so I can't wait to get a tank of premium in it and get it broke in.