German Car Zone

It used to be that American muscle cars were competing against themselves when it came to power. But rumor has it that, in the case of the Chevrolet ZR-1, the domestic horsepower war has a new international benchmark: the BMW M-division V10.

Word is that "German competition is driving the higher horsepower and torque numbers coming to the Corvette." Chevy engineers said that the new LS9 was created to "match up favorably" with the V10 found in the M5 and M6. The supercharged 6.2-liter LS9 has 620HP and 595 lb-ft of torque, with 535 lb-ft available from 2,600 RPM and a 6,200-RPM redline. The high-revving, naturally aspirated 5.0-liter V10 has 507 HP and 385 lb-ft of torque, and goes all the way up to 8,250-RPM.

It's good to see Chevrolet taking its cues from the best, no matter whether its domestic or international. Especially when it's applied to an engine created with a different philosophy (large-displacement, low-revving grunt) to go in a car with a vastly different purpose than the M5 or M6. BMW's S85 V10 has won at least two International Engine of the Year awards for three years straight, and the LS9 still needs to prove itself. In the mean time, the far more powerful LS9 can gloat that it gets better highway gas mileage: 20 MPG versus. the V10's 17. American ingenuity, +1.


Source: Corvette ZR1's LS9 inspired by BMW M V10? - Autoblog

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LOL @ pic!

I dont get it. Those two engines has nothing in common. Only thing they have in common is that they are performance engines but they are built differently.

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Very interesting considering these engines have very little in common. GM just wanted to beat the BMW V10 in power thats all because the LS9 doesn't share any of the BMW V10's engineering principles.

10 cylinders vs 8 cylinders
naturually aspirated vs forced induction
screaming rev hp vs low rev torque
OHC vs OHV

The only thing they do share is that magical 100hp per liter distinction. I have to give it to BMW it seems that when you look across the board they're tops in engines right now. Others have some really outstanding engines in their lineups, but BMW seems to have a distinct advantage/lead across the board. Take a bow diehard BMW fans.......


M

Well, here it is:

The LS7 was enough to beat the S85...Shouldn't that be more comparable?

Care to explain?

That just about says it all. Truly, what the hell are they on about?

Well, the LS7 isn't a FI engine like the LS9, wouldn't you say that's more comparable to the S85? The LS7 also revs to a higher degree than the LS9 and the total hp output is similar to the S85. As for being about to beat the S85 well the numbers are on its side: it's a lighter engine with more power across is rev range and gobs more torque the only thing that would be able to save the S85 is SMGIII, but we are only talking engines here.

I dont see them comparable. Two different ways to build a engine. But it would be intresting to see which engine construction is the most complex engine.