General Motors' modern Ecotec engine family first saw the light of day in 2000, when a 2.2-liter inline-four making 147 hp debuted for global use in the Opel Astra — the German brand was a GM subsidiary until it sold it in 2017 — and Saturn's L-series cars. GM updated the 2.
2-liter with direct injection a few years later, but it took until 2006 for GM to introduce the 2.4-liter Ecotec engine to cars like the Chevrolet Cobalt and Pontiac G6. GM engineers based the new 2.
4-liter Ecotec on the older 2.2-liter unit, retaining several aspects and features of the smaller engine while adding camshaft phasers — an integral part of any variable valve timing system — and beefing up the construction. The 2.
4-liter Ecotec's heyday was from 2006 to 2013, when it featured in several GM vehicle engine bays in various guises — including hybrid, flex-fuel, and direct-injection variants. GM replaced it with a 2.5-liter inline-four engine at the end of that run, but the 2.
4-liter hung on for a few more years in cars like the Buick Regal before fully bowing out after 2017. Let's go through all the GM models that came with the long-lived — and somewhat desirable — four-cylinder engine. The Chevrolet Cobalt debuted for the 2005 model year after being first unveiled at the end of 2003 at the Greater Los Angeles Auto show.
Initially powered by 2.0- and 2.2-liter Ecotec engines, GM quickly introduced the 2.
4-liter Ecotec to the Cobalt in 2006 as the sole engine option for the Cobalt SS..