LT5 Corvette? Diesel ATS?! A New Supercharged 6.2L Cadillac?!!

"Wobbles the Mind" (wobblesthemind)
12/26/2016 at 11:01 • Filed to: GM

“Fast Eddy” Mid-Engined Corvette Concept by Aria Group

The VIN cards came out listing that a 2018 Corvette model will be getting the 6.2L “LT5" engine with a dual overhead camshaft. Some people are taking this to mean mid-engined Corvette because it’s naturally aspirated and the LT1 and LT4 are still present for MY2018. The LT5 designation was used for the 1990-1995 Corvette ZR1 which had DOHC, but everyone is arguing about how you go natural V8 and still be faster than the current Z06. Thus the first riddle has been asked.

Full MY2018 Chart

Zoom in on the good stuff. “Y” is the code for Corvette. “A” is the Alpha Cars (Camaro, ATS, CTS). “K” seems to be the Omega Cars.

Im not seeing an LS7/LT7 listed for the upcoming Camaro Z/28...so I guess it’s an upgraded LT1 which SHOULD be in the Corvette Gran Sport too. That leaves this LT5 (line 9) as either a new ‘Vette or the ZR1. That’s what has everything lit up online right now.

However, I’m seeing a diesel alpha platform (line 1) and a new vehicle on the omega platform with the LT4 (line 6b). Now the diesel must be the ATS, that makes more sense than a diesel CTS or a Coalmaro. But line 6b is where my interest lies. Here is the VIN card chart for MY2017 for comparison.

Is it a CT6-V? Is the CTS switching platforms and becoming the CT5 next year and debuting with the same power plants? (There’s four model years on the CTS already). There is a full-size CUV coming next year on the Omega platform to sit between the XT5 and Escalade, could it be an X5 M-fighting Cadillac performance SUV? Is this the engine for an Escala-like CT8 superlimo? Between this LT4 Caddy, the lack of LS7/LT7, and the LT5 coming back the same year as a new ZR1 I’m left with more questions than ever before!!

DISCUSSION (22)

Tapas > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 11:07

I’m excited to see whatever that goes in :) I hope it’s all of the above lol

dogisbadob > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 11:07

GM needs to stop reusing the same engine names over and over. Sloppy accounting practices like that got GM in trouble 10 years ago.

LT7 and LS2 are Oldsmobile diesel engines from the 80s.

jimz > dogisbadob
12/26/2016 at 11:09

it only matters if codes conflict at a particular point in time.

Wobbles the Mind > dogisbadob
12/26/2016 at 11:11

Oldsmobile revival confirmed!!

dogisbadob > jimz
12/26/2016 at 11:14

I need to find a diesel Olds from the 80s so I can make a YouTube video called “LS2-powered Cutlass Ciera” and be the biggest troll ever.

People asking you what engine does your car have? Oh, it’s got the LS2 :p

FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com > dogisbadob
12/26/2016 at 11:24

Good luck. I’m pretty sure they’ve all rusted through and/or crushed.

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 11:25

Could the LT5 be a new “refined Northstar sequel” V8 for Cadillac?

Wobbles the Mind > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
12/26/2016 at 11:31

Only if there is a Cadillac coming next year on the Corvette’s “Y” designation platform. Hmmm, secret XLR reboot...

Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now) > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 11:33

Pillarless CT6 Coupe!

jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > dogisbadob
12/26/2016 at 11:35

While there are 1296 different designations that GM could use for the engines, and they don’t use them all up before some start getting reused, I don’t think it’s a big deal. It’s generally a couple decades before they reuse a RPO. And they can go through them pretty fast, sometimes there are two different versions of an engine which are identical other than one being flex fuel compatible. (Oddly, those aren’t guaranteed to have similar RPOs.)

It’s also only the V8s that anyone seems to learn or care about. And people don’t care enough to learn what an LM7 is, beyond just calling it an “LS.” And I remember some people who used to think that all of the iron 6.0 liters were an LQ.

So... way too many words just to say, “it’ll be ok.”

Urambo Tauro > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
12/26/2016 at 11:47

4-door convertible!

PatBateman > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 11:56

THE MIDENGINE CORVETTE MULE IS ACTUALLY A CADILLAC.

jimz > FTTOHG Has Moved to https://opposite-lock.com
12/26/2016 at 12:00

there’s a couple vids of them on YouTube. They never sold that well when new anyway, which is a shame. The V6 was actually “done right” with 5 head bolts per cylinder.

PS9 > dogisbadob
12/26/2016 at 12:03

Nomenclature is not ‘sloppy accounting practices’. It’s also not sloppy at all to reuse engine nomenclature. It’s organized and predictable, which is exactly what you want from product nomenclature when you are running a multi-billion dollar global corporation and will manufacture hundreds of variations on millions of products.

daender > PatBateman
12/26/2016 at 12:05

Coupling this with Cadillac’s recently entry into American prototype sports car racing, this makes more sense.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
12/26/2016 at 12:07

oh god yes

PatBateman > daender
12/26/2016 at 12:11

To expand on that, the current president of Cadillac was the president of Audi when they came out with the R8.

PS9 > Bman76 (hates WS6 hoods, is on his phone and has 4 burners now)
12/26/2016 at 12:46

Doubt it. Nysschen revealed during his AMA with Jalopnik that the next caddy V8 was going to be TT, likely aimed at all the TTV8s coming out of europe. Two v8 options for cadillac sounds fun, but remember that the idea behind him changing the nomenclature and moving their corporate office to NY was to help break caddy away from the other non-lux brands in GM. Future Vs and other high performance products from caddy will likely not have vette-sourced V8s, with the rest of the lineup getting their own engines as much as they can help it.

Pyrochazm > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 13:00

I’m thinking the LT5 is simply going to be the next logical step up in evolution for the LS whoops I mean LT engine architecture. That low hood would interfere with dohc heads.

dogisbadob > PS9
12/26/2016 at 13:46

psssst check out German or Japanese numbering systems. They have common engine families but you can identify specific members of each one.

Let’s take Honda for example

Honda C32A5, C30A, C32B, C27A4.

Even though the NSX engines (C30A, C32B) share no parts with the C32A5 (longitudinal Type-II engine from the Legend) or the C27A4 (transverse V6 used on the mid-90s Accord), they all have unique names so they can be distinguished from each other.

Nissan, Toyota, BMW, and Mercedes also each have their own systems that are good. Now compare them to GM.

There’s no confusing a 30-yo diesel V6 for a new V8. Perhaps three letters isn’t enough?

Nick Has an Exocet > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 16:26

They’ve already said that the CTS will be no more. So probably a a CT[X] of some sort. Hell, it could be an SRX replacement (CTX?)

Carbon Fiber Sasquatch > Wobbles the Mind
12/26/2016 at 22:55

They need some sort of engine for the Z/28 and whatever winged Corvette they’re testing. I’m guessing the DOHC LT5 will be for those cars, that way the kinks can be worked out before it goes into whatever they call their mid engined supercar.