Original Article Sourced From: SonicInsider.com

Let’s get to it. The Sonic has been praised by the media as an all-around performer, but the real performance all stems from one place – right under the hood. For those new to the ECOtec school, get ready for a crash course because we have some engine talk to get to.

The ECOtec is an inline four cylinder motor family that has heritage all the way back to the ‘70s but with all of the fuel saving and performance benefits of today. It’s quite the potent little powerplant that back in 2004 was pushed all the way to 1,800 HP to outright slay the competition on the drag strip. Records were broken, parties were had and it was a fun time for the ECOtec.

But that was then and this is now.

So what’s the latest with ECOtec and does the Sonic’s motor even deserve to be labeled an ECOtec? Well for starters the Sonic does have the ECOtec logo stamped on the engine cover of its new 138hp 1.4L Turbo LUV. If you’re asking yourself what an LUV is, well that’s the technical engine code that GM has christened this motor with. Know it well.

Quick tip: You should just write “LUV” on your mirror now so that every morning you can remind yourself to search for all the latest performance parts that will be coming out in the upcoming months.

Now back to the LUV specifics. In comparison to the previous family of ECOtecs, of which one powered the Cobalt SS and pumped out 260hp right from the factory floor, there are some positive similarities and differences to the LUV. One key difference, there’s just 1.4 liters of displacement in the LUV versus 2 liters in the LNF which powered the Cobalt SS. One key similarity, they’re both turbocharged.

Being turbocharged from the factory is a critical benefit that Sonic has over its competition like the Ford Fiesta, Scion xD and Fiat 500. With the turbo, not only is big power delivered consistently and low in the RPM range, but for those speed seekers it also means that plugging a computer into this bad boy and tweaking the tune can give you a major boost in power very easily and at minimal cost (more on that in the future).

Like the title says, this is a quick dive into the new 1.4L Turbo LUV ECOtec as there is a lot more to get to. We also realize that this article probably just created more questions than answers and we’re ok with that, even though it may drive you crazy.

If you want to get any of those crazy questions off your chest and into the next LUV article, drop us a line below and we’ll look at covering the best ones in our next quick dive into the LUV.