[TitoRay]

The last cavalier weighed ~2600-2700 lbs. The new cobalt weighs ~2900 lbs. 350 hp at 15 psi of boost in a 2.2 liter engine actually sounds about right. I don't know how long that could last on stock internals though...

There is a cool fellow who has a ~180 hp ecotec engine is his bad *** panel. Im just waiting for him to speak up. If you already have the skills, time, and/or the equipment, the fab work might not be an issue. It would be this type of individual who would probably consider this conversion.

Mr. Raby's -hardly- "off the shelf" motors, such as the 2270 combo Mr. Navarro mentioned, which do probably cost $8-12k, have ~150 hp and will last 150k miles so i'd imagine you could do the 9000 mile trick. Real-world folks however, are probably not trying to promote wear or drive a 3 liter air-cooled engine, a power plant which is truly rare and remarkable.

My mother's 1974 super beetle -which she brought brand new- was later used by my dad to haul reems(sp?) of paper back and forth across washington state. According to him, he never adjusted the valves but changed the oil every 3000 miles. He claims the car had well over 400k miles before the first engine rebuild. It was never the same since then.
The 1776cc type 1 engine with dual carbs in my 1972 super beetle has less than 25k miles and has been rebuilt twice since i've owned it. Once due to carb mount nut falling into the case, the second time(less than a few weeks after the first rebuild) because of the case cracking.