1996
As much as we had been avoiding the return of the I4, it became inevitable to have at least one four-cylinder powered car in the lineup. Something fuel efficient, and yet fun.
We now had VCT on our side, which meant we could do both at the same time, and we’d played around with turbos for quite a while now, too, so we were eager to get started.
We settled on a design plan for our new I4 engine. It’d need to be big enough and strong enough to handle competing against V6 engines, because otherwise we’d be in trouble. We needed the variable valve lift and timing components, which enabled VCT. We also needed the ability to turbocharge the engine, so it couldn’t be too wild at the base level. We settled with this:
The base model engine ended up with 2.6 liters of displacement, and was tuned for economy, despite throwing down 156 horsepower. The entire engine block and cylinder head was assembled from Aluminum Silicon Alloy, allowing the engine to remain lighter weight than many other inline 4 counterparts.
Naturally, this engine had to be fitted into a car. Our choice was to slip the new engine into our new four-door compact sedan, the Storm Knight.
The Storm Knight GS-E was designed to be powerful, light, a little fun, but above all else, a touch on the efficient side. With SymTrak AWD and Advanced Safety on an aluminum body, the Knight was reasonably safe to drive, and while acceleration left something to be desired, at 9 seconds to 60 miles per hour, the 31.6 MPG made up for that nicely.
Inside the GS-E, we’d installed 5 seats with good quality cloth, and a fairly average cassette deck, because we were focusing on this car being kept inexpensive. At less than $15,000, the Knight GS-E was many parents’ answer to a kid wanting a new car. Kids learned to respect the sturdy AWD platform, and the 155 horsepower I4 under the hood, as the VCT was tuned for a very smooth transition in the GS-E’s engine. It could be felt, but at no time did the car ever really feel like a rocket. However, there was a lot of aftermarket for these cars, not because of the GS-E, but the GT-4T.
While the GS-E was the tame, mild-mannered fuel sipper, the GT-4T got the turbocharger package.
Helping the turbocharged Knight to 60 in 5.3 seconds was the new SymTrak+ Gear-Driven AWD, replacing the belt-driven front-wheel-drive unit with a gear-driven one. It also was equipped with geared limited slip differentials front and rear, and came with a 6 speed manual instead of the GS-E’s 5 speed.
The interior of the GT-4T was stepped up a grade, swapping high-quality cloth in favor of leather, and the cassette deck for a CD player. As this was a sports-compact and not a sports-car, we felt it was necessary to offer more for the extra money, other than an engine that drops the fuel economy down to 27.2 MPG.
For less than $21,000, the Knight GT-4T could be yours.
Of course, a common thing for people to do was to put parts made for the “4T,” as the kids ended up calling it, on the GS-E, making the GS-E something of a minor legend. The engines were built tough enough to handle modification, and aftermarket companies quickly picked up and made parts for those seeking even more power.
As an inexpensive pair of cars, the Storm Knight proved that the I4 was here to stay in the lineup, just being careful where it was used.
However, we were hearing some disturbing rumors about our earlier SymTrak units. A few cars had been in for service, and the drivers were complaining about a screeching sound under hard acceleration. Inspection of the SymTrak units showed the front-wheel-drive transfer belts had been worn down, causing the toothed belts to slip on the pulleys. Given that these cars had over 65,000 miles on them, we decided it was best just to replace the belts with new factory units and send the cars back on their way. This appears to have fixed the problem.