Overall, my theme just boils down to the fewer moving parts (and lack of break-able cam belts and tensioners) inherent in a pushrod engine.

It’s not uncommon to see LS/LQ engines turn up in the yards with 450K miles on them, with perfect compression numbers and original hone marks still on the walls. It’s just a great, low-stress design.

Gearing can’t make up for a lack of torque.

It’s not that huge of an engine, you can find people who swapped it into Mustangs (Here’s a 6.2 in an ‘08:)

If you were to engineer an engine exclusively to swap into other vehicles, it might look a lot like an LS.

I’ve seen countless Corvette’s at trackdays, but few M3’s, and never an E92.

I’d also add “service parts” to your list... If you break down 5 miles outside a rural town in Oklahoma, Alabama, Oregon... If there’s an Auto Parts Store in that town, you’ll always be able to find parts to get your LS motor running. Good luck finding exotic BMW or Mercedes parts.

Any guess why that engine can practically idle at 70 miles per hour and have gearing that shallow?

No. NO. This isn’t even remotely true.

Honda and Mercedes Benz have both implemented cylinder shutoff on OHC engines, so it’s not impossible, but it is also not as common as on OHV engines.

Fair enough, but is a 2+2 coupe a fair comparison to a compact luxury performance sedan? A Mustang GT is nearly identical to the Camaro SS’s MPG ratings.  

Am I missing something here? What’s the point of having a higher redline if you have to compromise size, weight, COG, torque, efficiency and reliability? Are Chevy’s smallblock pushrod engines some sort of statistical anomaly?

Having to excuse BRZ/86 for having too little torque for it’s chassis capabilities isn’t a badge of honor.

Or put four small turbos as close as you can at each of the exhaust ports. They would wind up fast, and turbo lag would be almost imperceptible

Peak power doesn’t tell the whole story, but it does give a clue to the expected speed and acceleration, assuming gear ratios are appropriate and the curb weight isn’t excessive for its class. (Which is why a 200hp fox Mustang and a 200hp BRZ both get to 60 in just over 6 seconds)

That sounds like an amazing engine, and an amazing machine when paired with the BRZ chassis, but it would be too much power for the niche that the BRZ occupies.

I think that the Cougar and the Capri’s failure was largely because of it’s name. Both were interesting cars in their own right, they just didn’t have anything in common with the older cars of the same name.

I don’t know if the 2.0 engine case has enough room for a longer stroke or bigger bore, but I'd bet an EJ25 wouldn't be much bigger.

I do fully appreciate what the Toyobaru is. But I feel that in 15 years of development they could have made the car at least just as fast as those old benchmarks of affordable Japanese sports cars.

Right, but I was accepting his premise and saying it’s still a bad argument.