There’s one thing we love about the Europeans: they know exactly how to slap a large motor in a small car - such is the case with the latest Chevy Spark we just laid eyes on. Apparently some guys at Chevrolet’s office in Europe thought that it’d be a good idea to transplant the new LUJ 1.4L Turbo motor into the upcoming B-segment hopeful, the Chevy Spark, and send it out for WTCC pace car duty. All we know is that we’d like to meet the man that thought of this idea and buy him a drink.

The LUJ puts out an incredible 140hp out of its miniscule 1.4L displacement – that’s less space than that bottle of Mountain Dew you pounded last night. That’s not N/A of course and comes via the help of the snail integrated into the header of the ECOtec four. And keep this in mind; the LUJ has an iron block… That means it’ll eat boost up better than your Uncle at the Sizzler buffet. For that reason, we can’t wait to see what Tuners do with this motor when it finally makes its way over to the States this fall underhood of the Chevy Cruze (WTCC-version Cruze shown in the background of the image above).

Fun fact: the Spark only tips the scales at 1,905lbs. Do the math on that and let us know how easy it will be to clean house at your local test-and-tune on Friday night in a LUJ-powered Chevy Spark. For now though we’re forced to live vicariously through the WTCC pace car iteration of the turbo Chevy Spark and hope that it comes as an option on the US Spark order form.

Would you be down to roll out in a Spark Turbo? What would you be willing to spend on such an automobile should it be parked at your local dealer? Let us know in the comments below!

 

The 2011 Chevrolet Cruze is very close to becoming the next staple GM small car for tuners to tweak, tuck and play with. With a new Delta II chassis underpinning the new Cruze, a new ECOtec was developed to properly motivate the new car. With all of the performance heritage behind the L61 though, the next-gen ECOtec had its work cut out for it. Enter the LUJ: a turbocharged, VVT, 1.4L ECOtec that puts out 138hp and 148lb.-ft of torque. Weekend warriors rejoice, there is a new top dog in town.

Staying true to ECOtec form, the new 1.4L LUJ ECOtec is quite the potent, pint-sized little package. Seemingly having two engines in one package, the low displacement and high power output of the LUJ allow the engine to deliver fuel economy of 40mpg on the highway or 148lb.-ft of torque depending on what the situation requires – groceries: 40mpg, drag strip: 148lbs of torque! This kind of multiple personality disorder is possible because of the turbocharger that comes bolted to the 1.4L ECOtec and is part of the recipe for the domination of the Cruze over its competitors.

Having a built on power-adder makes potential upgrades even easier than with prior-generation ECOtecs, coupled with a traditional port-injection system for easy tunability and the 1.4L ECOtec has the potential to usurp the LNF as the breadwinner in the ECOtec family. Pretty strong words we know but you’ll see why we’re not completely out of our minds as the new LUJ has some critical benefits that make this engine a monster waiting to be unleashed. These additions include a cast iron block with 5-bolt mains and hollow frame construction that reduces weight by 20 percent. Connecting rods that are forged, piston cooling jets to calm high boost temperatures, an on-board oil cooler, VVT in the head, and to cap it all off – a six-speed manual transmission makes gearheads around the world rejoice.

Check out this new video and some pics below that show how the whole LUJ deal works. Pretty basic turbocharged affair here but cool stuff nonetheless. If you want to print out either image and put it on your wall let us know we’ll shoot you over the high-res file.

Things are looking good for the GM Sport Compact world and we can’t wait for the Cruze to get here to keep sticking it to the competition!

 

The mere thought of new and exciting GM cars coming out simply excites us here at GMTS. We were all excited last year about this time going nuts over the new Camaro and that car didn’t disappoint us at all. Today is a little different though. We are seeing a resurgence of GM small cars coming down the line and these aren’t just afterthought cars either.

We have our sights on both Chevy Cruze and Chevy Aveo, both coming down the pipe here, with Cruze coming out around the September 2010 time frame. I know what you may be saying right now – “Aveo? Andy, I can see why you may be getting excited about the Cruze, with all the rumors of a possible SS, but Aveo.” Yes the Cruze will be the big buzz maker here in the next few weeks and for good reason, plain and simple the Cruze is hot! This car is going to make a big difference in the youth marketplace without a doubt.I have plenty of thoughts on the Cruze and some inside secrets… ;) that I really want to share, but today I am going to turn my focus on the new Aveo that will hit the streets next year in 2011. We just came across some inside info on some performance times for the new Aveo that we thought we’re too intriguing to keep to ourselves.

The Aveo is still a ways out, but I wanted all of us to have a look at the interior and this shot of the exterior that most of you are familiar with. We have to say, we were pleasantly shocked here at GMTS to see the new looks of the Aveo. The lines outside actually look strong and aggressive. Then you move into the interior and smiles will start to rise on your face. Just go ahead and check out the dash. Designers have told us the dash was inspired by a motorcycle with its cluster. We love it. Ah yeah, the seats look really good as well. All of this is great, but what really started to wake us up was the fact that we have heard this car in some “Unofficial” testing has laid down sub 6-second 0-60 runs. Yes you read that right! The new Aveo has broken into the 5-second range running 0-60 times!

Now if you look back at both models of the Cobalt SS – Supercharged and Turbo – they trip the 0-60 clock at Turbo – 5.4 seconds and Supercharged – 6.4 seconds and we all know how well both of those cars perform. So if this is the case with the new Aveo, could we possibly have a little monster on our hands here from the factory with actual great looks and a really solid interior? Not to mention what will happen when most of you get your hands on it and get the aftermarket world involved. Oh, did I mention the car is more than likely going to retail starting around $13,000?

So now do you see why I’m so wound up here? We are excited to see what GM is doing and what their plans are with some of these new cars. Like I said earlier, we have more news and things we would like to share and will all in due time. Right now – enjoy this piece of info and may the dreaming begin!

 

The Aveo started off life in 2002 as a small car destined for never having the words, fun, cool or sporty ever being associated with it. With new GM comes new vision though, and if the new Chevy Aveo RS concept is any indication of what the next Aveo will look like, well you just might see a picture of the Aveo next to any of the those three words in the next revision of the dictionary.

 

Ever since it was announced that the globally-popular Cruze would be replacing the Cobalt as the sport compact car entity in the GM lineup, many have been wondering what changes GM would make to the already successful Cruze platform when it finally comes to the US. As it turns out, not many. The Cruze is coming for blood against all competitors in the small car segment with some serious benefits for tuners as well. If you grab an LT or LTZ Cruze, you’ll be getting a 1.4L turbo under the bonnet with a choice of a 6-speed manual – no flappy-paddle gearboxes here, just a straight pull-throw stick is what you’ll find nestled in your right hand. The 1.4L Turbo engine is an ECOtec too so you know it can take some serious abuse from aftermarket tweaking and tuning. We’ll be interested to see what offerings tuners like Garrett will be putting out once this bad boy hits the streets. That’s just the beginning though, for full details about the U.S.-spec Chevy Cruze check out all the pics and the full press release after the jump. 

If you’ve been looking for an excuse to upgrade your Cobalt SS Turbo up to Stage 1 status then this is it! For a limited time only CrateEngineDepot.com is holding a sale on the much ballyhooed Cobalt SS Turbo Stage 1 kit. Tom over at CED is letting these kits goes for only $498 and no pennies! That price also includes shipping to anywhere in the contiguous US of A however if you live somewhere else, don’t fret, Tom will make sure he can get your kit to your doorstep in a jiffy. If the price isn’t enough to get you going, check out these comments by owners whose only complaint about the kit is that they’ll need new tires very soon.

 

On Wednesday we posted some data about the amount of Cobalt SS Turbos built and how many were painted in each color. We’ve been hounded by Turbo owners about making that info available for quite some time so we were quite excited to finally get it out to all of you. Of course, when you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to want a glass of milk to drink. Once we posted the year/color match up, we heard questions and comments about factory options like the RPD, Advanced Audio, G85 and just how rare each one of these packages were.

ECOtec-powered vehicles have dominated the FWD Sport Compact Drag Racing scene ever since they first rolled into the NDRA series back in the day. These drag-prepped ECOtecs produce up to 1400hp and literally leave competitors in the dust. All year long, CSI (Charlie Schafer Industries) has been rocking the Mobil 1/Borg Warner Chevy Cobalt at Drag Racing events across the county and spreading the ECOtec love along the way.

The Cobalt Stage 1 Kit is well along its way to being available at a dealer near you. As such, we hear more details weekly that we can then pass on to you, the Cobalt SS Turbo owner and fan. If you are the lucky owner one of these turbocharged monsters, you’ll be able to run out and buy the new Stage 1 kit from a GMPP dealer and instantly add 20hp and 60lb.-ft of torque to your Cobalt and keep your full factory warranty intact. In addition to the added power, the kit serves as the gateway mod for the Cobalt and will disable the “learn down feature” of the stock PCM. This nifty feature allows your Cobalt to fully utilize any other modifications (intake, header, exhaust, downpipe, etc) that you’ve may have or wish to add in the future – making your dream 350hp Cobalt a very close reality.

The Nissan GT-R has garnished quite the reputation from the automotive world as being a force to be reckoned with. With that being said, it’s not surprising that not every tuning shop in the country is stepping up to pit their efforts versus those of Nissan’s with its GT-R. However that is exactly the case when it comes to the guys at East Texas Muscle Cars, where they think that their All-American Chevy Camaro can take on the mighty Godzilla. Their final goal is to beat the Nissan GT-R around the Nürburgring Nordschleife circuit. Not only is ETMC confident in their assessment but they are so confident that they’re going to go to this fight with the Camaro’s V6 powerplant instead of the much more powerful 426hp LS3 V8.