I was wondering why the 2009 Chevy Impala SS was the last year for the LS4.

The Impala soldiers on pretty much unchanged into 2011 until it gets redone. Did the market not justify it's existence? Did the downturn in the economy coupled with a sour taste for ANY GM product lead to its demise?

If you think about it, a 303 HP V8 is not really that competitive when you see V6's with 312 and up as commonplace and I'm not even including the VQ's that are in Nissans and Infintis. One thing the V6 engines do lack is torque and that's what gets it done at the end of the day.

 

It lasted a year less than the LS1 right? '97-'02 and '05-'09. The death of the Grand Prix and the birth of the G8 didn't help nor did the woes of GM. It was also a niche interest engine, how many people actually know it exists?

 

The government killed it and most other "sensible" performance cars when they took over GM

 

actually the government didn't kill it specifically, it just didn't allow it in passenger cars anymore due to it's fuel consumption. The engine is still alive in the G.M. pickup truck models.

 

5.3L truck engines are not LS4s, it was an LSx strictly built for transverse applications.

 

o really, hmmm I stand corrected. Thank you sir.

 

Quite welcome. I think one of the truck engines is LSx derived but not an official LSx monikered engine.

 

Is the truck 5.3 aluminum or still an iron block?

 

The LH8 (LH6?) 5.3L in the Colorado/Canyon is all aluminum, if I'm not mistaken. The 5.3L used in the GMT platform is iron block/aluminum heads.

 

when the government steps in and has control of a company sh#t gets jacked up

 

-untill you drop one in a g body cutlass

 

Actually, it depends on what you buy.

Silverado and Sierras all get iron block/aluminum head 5.3s.
Two wheel-drive Tahoes and Yukons get all aluminum 5.3s.
Four wheel-drive Tahoes and Yukons get the iron block/aluminum head combo.

 

Why keep it when they can make a more fuel efficient V6 that makes the same amount of power. It doesn't make sense.

 

The sound...

 

torque

 

was the Aluminum 5.3 in the SSR an LS4?? or was it based on the Truck engine?It made about the same Hp and torque??

 

It was a 5.3L Vortec in '03 and '04 and an LS2 in '05 and '06. See my previous statement about the LS4.

 

They should have kept it a V8 that gets close to 30MPG Big Mistake Huge!!

 

Mine's getting 20 atm, spirited, TapShift only driving with DoD disabled and winter blend gas... I was seeing high 20s on all 8 cylinders...

 

Cruising at 80 from NorCal to SoCal I got 26 mpg. I got 27 mpg cruise set at 73. Peddling it myself between 62-69 depending on the slope of the road I got 29 mpg.