Where The 2019 Silverado 2.7L Turbo Engine Needs To Go Next
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In a race to the fewest cylinder count in the name of fuel efficiency, Chevrolet has officially announced a stout 2.7L turbocharged inline four cylinder engine for the 2019 Silverado 1500. Expect GMC to follow suit shortly. The size and power density of the engine is on another level when it comes to GM four cylinder engines, with an SAE-certified 310 horsepower and 348 lb-ft of torque. It also scoots from 0-60 in less than seven seconds, and helps bring the weight down to astonishing 380 pounds less than the current base Silverado with its base 4.3L V6.
Given the compact cylinder count and the robust power density, we can’t help but think where this 2.7L engine should go next. Here are our picks:
Chevrolet Camaro
The Camaro 2.0L Turbo represents the base line of the Chevrolet pony car. With a power-dense 275 hp and 295 lb-ft of torque, it has proven to be quite the athlete, with some skilled autocross drivers taking top positions with it on indexed times. The tuning crowd seems to like it, as well, as Chevrolet has seen some conquest from the hot hatch/Japanese sport coupe demographic thanks to the Camaro Turbo. However, when looking at its direct rival, the Ford Mustang EcoBoost, the Camaro 2.0T appears a tad overmatched on power. The 2.7L engine, and all of that juicy low end torque, could fix that. Just imagine that with a 1LE package. And maybe, with an engine offering like that, customers could look beyond that controversial 2019 Camaro refresh.
Chevrolet Colorado/GMC Canyon
The 2019 Ford Ranger is on the way, and it seems to be offering a rather agreeable powertrain. The 2.3L EcoBoost engine, connected to a 10-speed transmission. For anybody that’s sampled either the Colorado or Canyon, in either V6 or diesel form, you’ve likely observed the there either doesn’t feel like enough torque from the V6 – which is essentially meant to be a car engine. Or, you’ve likely observed that the 2.8L Duramax lacks the sort of highway passing confidence that GM trucks otherwise provide. On paper, the 2.7L could deliver both ample horsepower and torque, while rivaling the expected output of the 2019 Ford Ranger in one fell swoop.
Cadillac XT4
No, we’re not going to suggest that the 2.7L should replace the standalone 2.0L turbo engine in the 2019 Cadillac XT4. When looking at its similarly priced rivals, on paper, the power output of the XT4 is sufficient. What we are suggesting is that this 2.7L turbo engine slot above the 2.0L in the lineup, for a sort of XT4 V-sport model.
Chevrolet Traverse RS
The 2.0L turbo engine exclusively offered in the RS trim level of the Chevrolet Traverse, frankly, makes little sense. It’s marketed as the “sportier package” of the lineup, yet falls 55 hp short of the numbers offered by the Traverse’s standard engine – a 3.6L V6. The additional 29 lb-ft of torque the 2.0L offers over the base V6 appears net negative. The 2.7L, with 310 horsepower and 348 lb-ft, would match the hp of the V6, but offer nearly 100 lb-ft of more torque. In doing so, the Traverse RS would transform more into what the official messaging wants it to be.
Buick Regal GS
The 2018 Buick Regal GS moves like a welterweight prize fighter, and its sleeper car presence makes it all the more interesting. One of the few drawbacks of the Regal GS is that we wish it had more low-end torque from its naturally aspirated V6, which the outgoing model had. Sure, what performance enthusiasts really want in the Regal GS is a twin-turbo V6, but if a four cylinder engine is pushing out nearly 350 lb-ft of torque from the factory, it’s likely only few would still care about the cylinder count.
Cadillac CT5
The suspected replacement of the Cadillac CTS/ATS, and the next passenger car in the Cadillac family is presumably the so-called CT5. While the naming leaves something to be desired, the new 2.7L turbocharged four cylinder engine likely wouldn’t. That said, we’d hope that Cadillac would also remember V6 and V8 engines for the CT5, as well.
Chevrolet Performance Crate Engine
Chevrolet made positive inroads with the tuner crowd by announcing the 2.0L LTG engine as a crate engine for longitudinal applications a few years ago. The 2.7L turbo four would build on that momentum, in a catalog that’s otherwise dominated by V8 crate engines.
Where would you like to see the 2.7L turbo? Sound off in the comments below.
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“No words of mine, can express my utter contempt” for any turbo-4 powered vehicle. The thought of anything less than a V8 to me is about as worthless as low profile track tires on a Belaz 75710 (look it up if you don’t know what that is) But I’ll play along with this. Here is an intelligent idea for the new 2.7L i-4 turbo. I already had this idea about putting the Chevrolet Cruze on the Alpha Platform and making it AWD. In it’s truck form the 2.7 makes 310hp and 380lb-ft of torque. With turbocharged cars, it’s not hard to add small amounts of boost to make insane amounts of power. If GM were to do a few small tweaks, the 2.7L could easy make 360hp and probably about 410lb-ft of torque reliably. Now put that in an AWD alpha-II chassis hatchback (Cruze RS) an Alpha-II chassis sedan (Malibu RS) and an Alpha-II Chassis Coupe (Camaro RS-1LE) and you have a decent trio of cars all on the same chassis but benefiting three sets of people. Also take that same engine and drop it in the Colorado, take the Traverse and put it on the Colorado frame and give it the same 360hp 2.7L Turbo-4 and call that the Traverse RS and now you have some contenders for the turbo-4 market. What would be nice to see would be for GM to go down to just having a few Chassis (Alpha Chassis = (Cruze, Malibu & Camaro) mid size truck chassis (Colorado, Traverse, Blazer) Full size Chassis (Silverado, Tahoe, Suburban) ) Once you do that you can go down to a few different engines. the base 2.7L turbo, a 5.7L V8, a 6.4L 396 V8 and a 6.2L S/C v8 along with the Duramax series engines. Just makes sense
I am already imagining this in a new Blazer/Trailblazer to go head to head with the 4Runner!
While the Colorado is the most obvious choice, the GMC Acadia needs this engine the most. The 2.5 is borderline Garbage and cannot believe GM is selling this engine to the American public. Like why the Buick Envision offers is too is crazy to me as well. The 2.5 needs to disappears ASAP from modern GM engine Bays.
I’m quite happy with it in my 2017 Impala. It is refined, very peppy around town and gets good combined MPG. I imagine it is also much less expensive to produce than all these turbo engines and will go several hundred K miles with no issues. Hardly garbage.
Could this be based on (half of) the 5.5L V8 rumored for the mid-engine Corvette?
How about a straight-6 4.0L, 465HP 522TQ, that would be a good truck motor!
That’s one helluva observation with respect to the Corvette 5.5. I would love to see this architecture (three phase cams, dual volute turbo, etc), but I doubt the ~3.6″ bore and 4.01″ stroke would carry over to a performance car application. Also, IIRC, the CAD images depicted tubular exhaust pieces between the heads and turbo on the TT C8, which would preclude this head configuration (integrated exhaust manifold).
But, oh boy! Would I love to drive that V8 and I6 in the packages as you describe them!
Imagine the new L3B 2.7L DOHC-4v 4-cyl turbo being the gas motor that will be paired with (2) 400 hp electric motors of the 2026 C9 Corvette Hybrid.
I have to agree Rakesh Chugh On some of his points . As for me I too would like to see the 2.7 offered in Colorado and I will go one more , the new upcoming 3.0 diesel inline 6 ,all on the next generation 2020 model !
I would like to see the L3B 2.7 gas power and the 3.0 diesel inline 6 offered in the Chevy Colorado, for the 2020 / 2021 yr. of updated model .
The Camaro, at 137.5 hp/l, has a much higher specific output than the 2.7. The 2.7 would need to make over 370 hp just to match the specific output of the 2.0. The 2.0 in the Camaro has an, obviously, even higher specific output for torgue, 147.5 hp/l. The 2.7 would have to make almost 400 lb/ft^2 (398.25 precisely) just to match the specific output of the 2.0.
Basically, this 2.7 is kind of a garbage engine compared to the 2.0. The 2.0 is on an entirely different level. It would probably handle up to 400 hp without many modifications.
The 2.7 is a TRUCK engine, designed for TRUCK applications where LOW RPM POWER (TORQUE) is superior to high RPM power!
An electric motor would be junk as you put it, if it didn’t have maximum TORQUE at ZERO RPM.
Engines are no longer solely designed for cars or trucks. Case in point this motor is also in the CT4-V, a truck engine in a Cadillac V the blasphemy… Engines are designed to be used in a large gathering of vehicles from cars to trucks to CUV’s. The 3.6 is a good indicator, a slight tune and maybe an intake change and a car engine is used in trucks. Sometimes they may go as far as changing a cam profile but usually not. With a turbo it is even easier. So no, this isn’t a TRUCK motor designed for TRUCK duties with no high RPM power, it is a well balanced motor that can be used in a wide variety of vehicles. Hopefully this finds it’s way in the mid size trucks and the large CUV’s.
The 2.0 works fine in a sub-3,500 lb. car. The 2.7 is designed to work in a >4,500 lb truck with >1,500 lb load in the bed and/or a 7,500 lb trailer behind it. High specific output and heavy loads aren’t compatible.
GM PREVIOUSLY TOOK AN INLINE 4 CYLINDER AND MADE BOTH AN INLINE 5 CYLINDER AND AN INLINE 6 FROM THE SAME DESIGN. THE 6 WAS THE BASE ENGINE IN THE CHEV TRAILBLAZER AT 4.2 LITERS WITH 4 VALVES PER CYLINDER. GM COULD TAKE THIS NEW 2.7 LITER 4 CYLINDER AND MAKE AN INLINE 5 FOR ABOUT 435 POUNDS FEET OF TORQUE.
GM COULD ALSO REDUCE THE STROKE A VERY SMALL BIT BY MAKING THE STROKE 3.75 INCHES FOR CAR USE TO LET IT REV JUST A BIT HIGHER FOR RACE CAR PURPOSES. THE SIZE WOULD DROP FROM 2.7 LITERS,166 CUBES, TO 155 CUBES OR 2.55 LITERS. THE BORE WOULD STAY THE SAME AT 3.63 INCHES. THIS MEANS THE PISTON RINGS AND BORE SIZE WOULD REMAIN THE SAME. LOTS OF POSSIBILITIES. THE SMALLER STROKE VERSION WITH 5 CYLINDERS WOULD BE 194 CUBES OR 3.18 LITERS. IN AN INLINE 6 VERSION WITH THE SHORTER STROKE, IT WOULD BE A 233 CUBES OR 3.82 LITER ENGINE. GM COULD MAKE SOME IRON BLOCK VERSIONS FOR INDUSTRIAL USE ENGINES THAT MOSTLY RUN ON 104 OCTANE PROPANE. BASED ON THE SAME POWER PER CUBIC INCH AS THE 2.7 LITER, THE SHORT STROKE INLINE 6 WOULD BE ABOUT 435 HP BECAUSE IT WOULD BE DESIGNED TO REV A FEW HUNDRED RPM HIGHER. ON PROPANE IT WOULD BE ABOUT 10 PERCENT MORE HP OR ABOUT 478 HP. THAT’S COOKING WITH GAS, LPG GAS THAT IS.
The 5 and 4 cylinder engines were offsprings of the 6 cylinder!
The 2.0 with port injection can easily do more than 300 hp with a good amount of torque. There is an other possibility, add a turbo to the 2.5 and you have a good engine and if you add port injection it will be awesome.
Take the 310/348 4 cyl here….cast it into a V8 block…make 620/696…for round numbers let’s crank on the tune a bit to get 650/700…new V8 platform?
Where do people get these numbers from?
GM already has a V8 that makes 755 hp & 715 lb-ft of torque. It has three fewer camshafts and 16 fewer valves than your proposal. No new “platform” needed.
That one’s not very efficient and reliability isn’t where it needs to be for a heavy duty truck.
I don’t know if this 2.7T would scale well, but BigDaddy is right that GM needs a new, more fuel efficient motor for heavy duty trucks. Imagine an engine that can get 25mpg when the truck is driven empty, but load up the truck or tow a load and the engine lights up with gobs of torque.
There is no scenario for the foreseeable future where a gasoline engine is going to return 25 mpg in a HD truck, particularly one that is large displacement, multi-valve and boosted. Small diesels barely achieve that figure in LD models.
Probably not 25, but you get the idea. Relatively high mileage when the truck is used as a single person transport, but neck-snapping torque when it’s put to work.
Lets not forget the 2.7L is a truck motor, has an offset crankshaft and as Richard has pointed out the LT5 has you covered. Not to mention the C8 is expected to get a range topping 5.5L TT.
fastyle. There is no such thing as a truck engine anymore. The 2.7 liter turbo is an option for 2020 in one of the smaller Cadillacs. It will outperform the 3.6 liter V6 which GM puts in just about everything. I would much rather have the 2.7 liter turbo as an option in the Chev Colorado pickup than the wimpy 3.6 liter V6. The low end torque is better for a heavy baby SUV or truck than a mid 3 liter V6 that Ford, Dodge and GM offers. Even the Honda small pickup and both Nissan and Toyota small pickup trucks offer a mid 3 liter V6. a Turbo 4 cylinder will blow the pants off all of those mid 3 liter V6 engines. Look at the Ford F-150 option with the 2.7 liter turbo, which has a huge amount of low end torque close to 375 pounds feet.
I’ll rock the boat:
L3B NEEDS to go into a stripped down C7. Call Tadge and let him know you agree!
Before putting on JORTS (jean shorts), white tennis shoes with long white tube socks and tucking in your shirt with a leather belt, consider the following benefits:
Want your rear weight bias? BAM!
Want the fastest beginner corvette? BAM!
Want to rule your local roadcourse? BAM!
Want to get YOUNG people into Corvettes? BAM!
A decent camshaft/turbocharger upgrade SHOULD be able to put this engine into 400HP range. With E85, easier to go even higher!
Before you get out the “NO WAY JOSE,” I offer the following secondary pieces of data:
The original vette came with an inline 6, NOT a v8
The base level corvette has always been targeted toward the average working household
The L3B still makes more horsepower than a couple old versions
GM already has a car that checks all those boxes: the Camaro. An L3B Camaro is a virtual certainty, and the Camaro already has a world-class chassis and is priced competitively. All it needs a better design with more modern and sophisticated styling and good outward visibility.
Making the Camaro the “budget” sports car helps preserve the exclusivity of the Corvette, which is important since nobody ever should look at a Corvette and say “I wonder if that’s just the four cylinder ‘Vette?”
Sorry for posting this comment here, but didn’t see any other place to do it. I’m dying to get a 2019 Silverado, regardless the motor , but a recent trip to my dealer left me down. Not a single color chip to be had. They want me to order a $50,000 truck without being able to see the color. Hummmmm. I don’t think so . Let’s ge moving here Ford and Ram are ahead of you on this .
Lee, you can see the real paint at any new car dealership body shop. Ask the body shop manager if you can see the color inside the can. It won’t look 100 percent identical because of the crappy lighting that all shops use. It changes it a bit. But it’s better than a tiny chip. Go in the daytime when the sun is shining and ask the manager to take the paint outside. Simple. Buy the guy or gal a coffee. Here is a tips for saving a couple of thousand on a brand new truck. Order it to spec. Arrange a loan against your home and pay cash for the vehicle. This only works if you are going to keep the vehicle for 3 year or less and only if you get very cheap rate of finance through the new car dealer factory loan program. Here in Canada, if you buy a new Dodge Ram truck, the dealer ads in the newspaper all show a higher rate of interest ( about 4.99 percent ) than you would pay on a loan against your home or against your shares in major stocks. Also check out the loan rate from your stock broker too. You can borrow about 50 percent of the face value of the shares at a rate that is often cheaper than a bank loan. When you go to the bank, don’t tell them you want a car loan. Tell them you want a home renovation loan. The interest rate is lower on a renovation loan than a car loan at the same bank. If you have very good credit, you can get a low rate credit card for business. One bank here offers a business Line Of Credit credit card for just 5 percent with a minimum loan of $20,000 and an upper limit of $100,000. There is no expiry date on that type of credit card Line oF Credit loan. You will save at least $5,000 by paying cash for your truck. You can also get a Federal government guaranteed loan for a business, at very good rates because the feds back about 80 percent of the loan to the bank. Each state may offer different loans with ties to Credit Union types of banks or if you are a black or hispanic lesbian in a wheelchair, you will get a loan for sure.
It would replace the 3.6