There were two. The 238/258 Buick V6 that everyone remembers and the Chevy 3.8 that was essentially a 6 cylinder version of the Chevy small block. It was a 90 degree V6 with an odd, offset ground crankshaft that gave it a smoother idle than the Buick odd fire V6. The crankshafts were weak and it still idled a little rough.
I had two of these, one in an '80 Malibu Classic and one in a '79 Malibu wagon. Both played out prematurely. I replaced the one in the '80 with a bored out 454. It was IMPRESSIVE! 400 turbo trans and a 12 bolt out of a Camaro. Really IMPRESSIVE!! The wagon got a 350 small block with a 700R4. It was a great driver. You couldn't stuff an inline six in either of them without hacking all the way back through the dashboard.
Those cars were just made for a V8!!
Yeah, that was supposition is that everything else was using either a Buick or Chevy V6, either because they were the other brands or because they were a Chevy with a short hood line and had to. So even tho the Camaro and Caprice (Nova was discontinued) could take an inline six in '80 and '81 (longer with the Caprice), it wasn't worth the cost of going through federal and California certification for just two applications. So ended the car 250. Trucks continued to use the 250 and 292 because they didn't have to go through that process yet and could have more variety in their engines.
