radtech said:
The rumor is that the Europeans want a V8. What will you say if they get one and we don't? And if they do get their wishes it will be on the same Kappa platform that "supposedly is not designed to take a V6/V8".
I think that was chalked up as rumor a fairly long time ago, and was never officially stated. It was an article from a magazine if I remember correctly. The current Kappa platform being specificly designed for i4 platform can be traced back to official GM Media news announcements. Also going off of official GM Media, Holden produced a v6 car off of the Kappa platform for a concept car. According to the official Holden media they had to alter the Kappa platform so much to accomodate it they rephrased their statement to "loosely based off the Kappa platform." They apparently had to drasticly alter the platform to get the car to handle a v6 engine in it correctly within their tolerance levels.
I'm going off the official information we've been given. If you've got some new information about the Opel/Vauxhall situation I think we'd all love to hear it though. Having moderated here and at the Solstice forums for a while, and being a member even longer before that I've seen so many promising rumors, but not many of them come true over time. The only things we can really relly on are the official bits GM gives us to go off of.
As I mentioned above that's for designs within GM tolerance levels. An after market car maker like Mallett doesn't have to follow the same tolerance levels as GM does, so they can fit larger engines in smaller spaces. That's also part of what you're paying for with them is for them to fabricate all kinds of bizare componenets needed to make a larger engine fit and work properly in a smaller engine area. If you want a v8 in your Kappa, there's nothing stopping you from buying a conversion kit (Mallett has said they're making one) and putting a v8 in yourself or have a shop do it. That would be cheaper then buying one from Mallett. Also who knows, in 5 years if they redesign the Kappa platform they might alter it with v6/v8 engines in mind. The current platform was done in a very short timeframe, and a lot of things had to be sacrificed in order to get it done quickly, and get it done right.