Our Two Cents: Vehicles That Never Got the Engine They Deserved
What vehicle never got the engine it deserved? That’s the question we asked the staff here at Hagerty Media. Our love of cars goes back decades, or centuries if you combined us into one superhero of an automotive journalist, and we’ve all wondered how much better certain cars would be if they had a different engine …
… Or a better engine, something that truly spoke to the rest of the car. Let’s see what alternate realities we have created!
A Standard V-8 for Every Cadillac
For me, it’s the fact that all Cadillac cars (cars—Escalade excluded) from the last 20 or so years lack a standard V-8 engine. GM has an excellent LS motor, and a baby Caddy with a modest 4.8-liter small-block would give buyers more reason to avoid a thirsty BMW for a slightly more thirsty Caddy.
As the Caddy becomes larger, the V-8 engine follows suit (5.3-liter CTS, 6.2-liter CT-6, etc.) with increased displacement, and forced induction for the V-series examples. The inherent torque and simplicity of a pushrod V-8 complements the minimalist architecture of GM’s new EV powertrains, and exclusively pairing those two in a luxury car brand will make Cadillac more appealing than any of its competition. — Sajeev Mehta
As under-the-radar-good (and as mod-friendly) as the ATS-V’s LF4 V-6 is, I agree. After having spent over ten thousand miles with the smaller of the Alpha-chassis Caddys, the ATS should have gotten the 455-horse LT1 from the Camaro, and the ATS-V should have gotten the LT4. — Eddy Eckart
V-8 Bronco Raptor/ Ford GT
Ford Bronco Raptor. Lack of a V-8 is … yeaaaaah. For the record, I am fully aware that you can’t easily fit that V-8 into Ford’s T-6 frame. Actually, here’s the same opinion again: This also applies to the most recent Ford GT. — Matt Tuccillo
For sure, the Ford GT shoulda had a V-8. — Larry Webster
I think I’ll also jump on the Ford GT bandwagon, as I don’t care for the reasoning of why it got the EcoBoost V-6. That car deserved a V-8 based on heritage alone. – Greg Ingold
Yes, please! Kill the flying buttress, make room for a 900+ horsepower Coyote with a twin-screw supercharger. — Sajeev Mehta
V-8 Prowler
The Plymouth Prowler comes to mind. Chrysler Corporation came up with a car that was a modern nod to the classic hot rod but forgot the one factor that people want from a hot rod: A V-8 engine. You have to actively try to miss that detail. I don’t think anyone would’ve minded seeing a 318 Magnum out of a Ram pickup in the Prowler, as long as it came with eight cylinders. — Greg Ingold
Honda Motors in a Modern Lotus
Any modern-day Lotus fits in this category. They make do with Toyota engines but the chassis deserves the character of a Honda motor. — Larry Webster
Having a Lotus with a K-Series would be excellent! Totally agree with that take. — Greg Ingold
A Straight-Six SLK
Let’s not overlook the original Mercedes SLK. This folding-roof roadster needed Mercedes’ juicy and punchy 2.8-liter straight six. That supercharged four-cylinder engine was disappointing, and the manual gearbox was even worse. — Larry Webster
SHO-inental, If Only
I only thought of this car/engine combo since I yanked my 1989 Continental Signature Series out of storage. Turns out it needed new rubber, and tires from a 1989 Ford Taurus SHO are a smidge wider on the same-sized wheel. Getting a set of those and slapping a set of 1/4-inch spacers on the rear gave it a stance that I can’t stop looking at. And now, curiously, it’s getting a lot more compliments. Even the manager of a local burger joint stopped me from giving my order so he could compliment me on it.
He thought it was a Town Car, but that’s not the point. These moments get this Lincoln-restomodding fool thinking about one thing: Ford needed an automatic transmission ready for the Taurus SHO sooner, and should have slapped it all into the 1989 Continental. Such a tragedy! — Sajeev Mehta
Citroën DS
The Citroën DS was so unconventional and interesting that it’s easy to forget there was only ever an old-fashioned, underwhelming OHV four under the hood. The later SM got a Maserati V-6, but the DS was never so lucky. — Andrew Newton
The Sky Shoulda Been the Limit
GM flogged its Ecotec four-banger, and I know they made crazy power for drag racing. But I thought the Pontiac Solstice and Saturn Sky deserved a more refined motor. — Larry Webster
They needed an LS, maybe just a small-displacement 4.8-liter, to keep Chevrolet appeased with their Corvette’s dominance. But I am sure that was discussed in some conference room at GM, and it was quickly shot down. — Sajeev Mehta
Hagerty Gang – please, oh please don’t combine yourselves into “into one superhero of an automotive journalist”! I love you all as your individual selves, with all of your individual tastes, experiences, viewpoints, and writing styles. You’re all individual parts of the Hagerty Superhero Universe and are much better as such than rolled into one.
My vote goes to the Fiat 850 Sedan – why that thing never got an 850 cubic inch engine is beyond me! 😁
The 1974 Fiat X19 was a classically under powered little gem, and a small 6 would have made it a screamer. Great looking, bold and held the road like a much more expensive toy.
You mean like the 914/6? They did build one and it was much better.
“You mean like” – hopefully editors can fix that comment!
“hopefully” is not a proper adverb, as it is commonly used.
one cannot “hopefully” fix something.
but one can be hopeful that it can be fixed
I forgot to mention that the writer’s use of the word “like” as a comparison was correct.
oops.
oh, well.
onward.
now let’s talk about cars
now let’s continue conversing about cars.
oops
The 914-6 WAS better than the 2.0 four, but not by much. Porsche chose a detuned engine so the car wouldn’t outperform the much more expensive 911.
In the ‘90’s, I built a Renegade Chevy 327 914-V8…that fixed it. Retained that slot-car handling, looked stock and made passengers scream when you hit the loud pedal. Also embarrassed the hell out of 911 owners anywhere,anytime.
I also had one made by renegade in LA. Small black should be blueprinted and balanced.. There was no way to describe it other than to give somebody a ride in it. The power burst was like NASCAR.
I knew someone back then that was doing conversions dropping larger (2.0L?) engines from Fiat sedans into them, making them much quicker and faster.
I have a 1986 X1/9. Yes, more power and relaxed gearing would be nice. The 2.0 L DOHC Fiat engine fits fairly easily. Specialist Midwest-Bayless installs Honda/Acura K20/24 drivetrains with necessary suspension and brake upgrades. Small 6 cylinder engines would be difficult to fit.
I own a 1985 X1/9 that I had MWB K-swap. It is a remarkable upgrade.
Believe it or not…..At a auto cross in humble Gooding, Idaho a guy from Boise showed up with a X/19 with chevy 350 small block in it. WOW it ripped!! I was in my Lancia Scorpion with a cammed FIAT 2L that i had stripped EVERYTHING that didn’t make it run and it lost 400 pounds down to an even 2000lbs with half a tank of gas. It changed the gearing so much I ran taller rear tires, real peppy.
How about a screaming turbo V-6 in a 2013 Hyundai manual transmission Veloster!
I was selling new Fiats when the X1/9 came out in early 1974 ( even bought one as a demo to help take orders as no dealers would keep one around to show)i always thought the 124 2 liter twin cam would have Made that car
Funny how so many others are commenting on bigger engines for period FIAT products; it’s the first example that came to my mind, too. I owned a ‘76 X1/9 from new, modified the engine into a 1600 stroker with dual Webers, big valve head, hot cam, etc. It was fun but I always wished the car had come with the bigger, twin cam 124 engine which would have been a much better starting point. Same situation with the beautiful (but heavier) Lancia Montecarlo; it did come with the 124 engine but had been originally designed for a V6. If FIAT had given both those cars the engines they deserved, they would have shaken the 1970s auto industry and would be much more collectible today.
The Lancia Montecarlo had a V6 in Europe but not the US. Here it was called the Scorpion and got the Fiat 124 engine. This was probably because of the need to meet emission controls here. The chassis was great. I upgraded mine with dual Webers and hotter cams headers and free flow exhaust (tossed the catalysts). This was more in line with the chassi capability.
Hard to realistically fit anything other than the stock SOHC 4 in an X1/9, but yeah, it might have been more fun with the DOHC 4 (like 50% more power off-the-shelf) or a 6. (It’s always fun to see what kind of modern 4 people cram in there, but it always surprises me that we don’t see more swaps of Fiat’s current award-winning MultiAir turbo 4.)
…I did kind of expect to see its big brother, the unloved Lancia Montecarlo/Scorpion on this list, as it *was* planned with the V6 from the 130 and then put into production with the 4 only because the gas crisis hit.
I also expected to see things like the Citroën CX and the DeLorean that were planned for stillborn Wankels and stuck with underwhelming engines at the last minute. (And the XJ220, of course, even if—like the Ford GT—the reasons for its production engine choice were actually entirely sound and journalists who whined about it in-period largely didn’t know what they were talking about.)
“Shoulda had a V8” ad nauseum could have been written by any randomly-selected group of teenagers; I expected a little more insight/thoughtfulness from Hagerty’s writing team.
At least they got the obvious one—Citroën DS. (Okay, second-most-obvious one, after the Facellia that they omitted.)
I once owned a Fiat 850 Sport Spyder. It was a charming looking little car that would easily kill you when motoring stately into any curve with only a hint of moisture on the highway. A mid-engine small block V6 turbo would have made a beast out of an otherwise cute little car.
I had a FIAT 850 RACER (SPYDER with a factory bolted permanent hardtop) I bought a HOT HOT 1068cc ABARTH 1050 block with a ‘butterfly intake dual WEBER DCOE 40’ , mild cam , cross flow custom head, real ABARTH exhaust that could run all day at 8,000rpm and sounded like …..wow. Easily 90 plus horse power. That too only weighed 1600 hundred pounds. The stock gearing became really quick. I took it to Switzerland for the historic running of the OLLON-VILLARS hillclimb and it made ’70’s stock Porsches cry! The pinnacle of my driving experiences. Then sold it there ….Can’t keep them all.
A beast that could have killed the driver even quicker! ;<)
Abarth stepped up with the extremely rare 1600OT, a light 850 sedan-based rally car with a 160hp DOHC, twin-ignition, twin Weber 45, dry-sump engine in the tail. Three examples were sold in the US (I owned one for a couple of years) and it was a beast.. Try to dig out the 1965 issue of Road & Track with Griff Borgeson’s road test for an entertaining read. Unfortunately, Porsche’s 904 arrived at the same time, and it was a far-superior platform. Abarth tried to up the ante with a two-liter engine (“The Mostro”, or “Monster”), and those are even more scarce. Clones of the 1600OT are popular in Europe, where guys are stuffing Fiat 124 engines in the rear of 850 sedans.
MONSTRUO is an understatement. Those were the real pocket rockets!!!
The Delorean – cool looking car but a big powerful V8 should’ve been standard.
The DeLorean should have been on top of the list!
Agreed
That was the first car I thought of when I saw the title of the article!
I agree with the need for HP. Having owned one though, This is a rear engined car not Mid. Delorean would of had to design it that way from the beginning. He wanted a car like the Lotus Esprit, light weight and quick. Giorgetto Giugiaro designed both cars, light weight he got, quick it was not. A good 4cyl turbo or V-6 turbo with 230-250 HP would of solved it all.
Legend Industries from NY was contracted to build the twin turbo V-6. Without going all wiki on you with the incredibly fascinating story, the PRV V-6 was to delicate for the turbo. After finally being modified and ready Delorean had already been arrested and the company was going into bankruptcy along with Legend Industries. Wiki “In a test run at Bridgehampton Raceway in 1981, the twin-turbo DeLorean was quicker than a Ferrari 308 and a Porsche 928.[81] The twin-turbo DeLorean tested 0–60 mph in 5.8 seconds and the 1⁄4 mile (402 m) in 14.7 seconds.”
Can you imagine.
The DeLorean’s layout makes a heavy V8 a bad idea. The car’s engine is located behind the rear wheels, and the weight of the 2.85L V6 adversely affected the car’s handling as it is. The PRV engine was designed to compete with a small block Chevy. We *are* talking the power-choked early 80s.
An eco boost Mustang motor would’ve made the DeLorean fly without adding much weight
They did not have those then, and the Mustang turbo-4 of the early 1980’s was not so hot itself.
The Delorean’s PRV6 was dreadful at 130hp, but the rear engine design couldn’t put more weight back there.
The platform really needed an engine that wasnt available at the time, a turbo i4 or v6 that could push ~250hp comfortably while also cruising economically, while weighing in under 300lbs
That’s why it too so long to get to 88!
Not that extreme (where would you PUT that many inches in a Fiat ?) Seriously, the 1608 cc Twin Cam from a 124 would make an 850 scream ! Best man at my wedding had a 124 Coupe with the 1608, auto-crossing the car, we put the hurt on a pile of Vega’s, even the vaunted Twin Cam Vegas ! And at SCCA events, we smoked them. All it really needed was the twin Weber carbs & it could have passed for an Alfa !
It was a joke, man!
The GM Kappa cars should have had the 2.0 Turbo standard. The V8 would never happen due to the Corvette.
Mallet made the LS available and it was expensive so not sure it was really going to do well.
One GM’s biggest flaws is their internal performance hierarchy.
I had friends and classmates at the AZDPG who discussed some development mules. Lots of good concepts were killed because of conflict with other models – especially the Corvette.
My personal favorite was the short bed, reg cab 5.3 Colorado with ZQ8 suspension. Right before they rolled out the CC 4×4 V8 versions.
A friend of mine had the Mallet Solstice and they cleverly used a single exhaust. It was a real sleeper, but the combo of curves and power would overwhelm the chassis. It was still a neat car tho’.
The 2.0 turbo redline version was more than adequate for the kappa platform, a tiny car that makes no sense with a V8.
Solstice/Sky could have had the contemporary “High Value” LZ9 3.9L V6 as well to keep it a rung down from the Corvette.
Well that would have been more weight and the Turbo with the GM performance tune could put out 300 HP and 345 FT LBS.
I drove that tune daily for 10 years and 23 PSI of boost.
The HV was a 3.6 like I have in my truck. Ok engine with no bottom end. Make power only from 3000 RPM up. The 2.0 would make full torque below 2000 RPM.
I agree, the turbocharged 2.0L was capable of some amazing power, certainly enough for the Solstice/Sky. I drove a couple SS Cobalts with that engine and it would definitely put you back in the seat – and that was with the standard 260 hp/260 lb-ft version. GM Performance offered a stage 1 upgrade at 290 hp/340 lb-ft.
I think they killed Fiero for the same reason. Give it more horsepower with the final year lotus suspension and it definitely would have eaten into corvette sales.
That was my choice for what was missing from this article.
If they could only keep them from catching on fire
Not that many 4 cyl fires actually. That was just a part of typical magazine bias and sensationalism of the times used to bash American cars… No 2.8L V6 fires to my knowledge. Over the years the 2.8L could have been changed-up to the 3.4L to make up for a torque deficit. Back then a few turbocharged Fieros were running around on the GM proving grounds test track that were blowing away the Corvettes. But that’s a corporate ‘non-starter”. Imagine all the really fast Corvettes we could have had all these years had they been turbocharged… Finally they woke up to what Buick GNs were doing in 1986-1987 and are coming out with the 2025 ZR1.
The Fiero really didn’t get the engine it deserved, even with the upgraded engine it finally received. Build issues aside, the DMC-12 deserved a small displacement V8, and (hear me out) the Pacer might not be disparaged so much if it had actually received the motor planned for it. When GM stiffed them for a rotary, they should have approached Mazda. I can’t agree on putting a V8 in the Ford GT, as it was designed as a performer and the EcoBoost 6 is more than adequate, for size, weight, and output.
My time at GM Milford and my employer was scrapping all of the Pontiac “mules” there was a running Fiero with a turbocharged V-6 that was being developed. Too bad they killed off Pontiac. The next generation was going to be epic.
I remember a turbo V6 Fiero test mule. It ran 4.9 to 60 and 13.3 in the quarter. Supposedly, there was also a small block Chevrolet Fiero test mule. Those could have kept the Fiero alive.
At the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the Fiero there were multiple speakers who had been involved with the Fiero. One speaker stated that they did put a V8 in a Fiero (and we know that doing so is possible because many owners have done so), but that Chevrolet brass complained loudly at headquarters and Pontiac was told to remove the engine and never try that again.
Adequate is not the point. It doesn’t even need that turbo V6 to be adequate, but it’s a FORD GT and it needs to sound like a Ford GT, not a souped up Escort!
But then, nobody’s ever going to see or hear one on the road so I guess it really doesn’t matter what’s under the engine cover…….Because it’s a Ford GT.
There’s a lot of utter nonsense in this article, but the Ford GT engine comments take the cake. The Ford GT was designed and built for one purpose only, and that was to win it’s GT class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the 50th anniversary of the original Ford GT 40’s win.
Mission accomplished!
It was also to showcase Ford’s Ecoboost line of engines. The car was built around the V6 engine. Good luck stuffing a V8 in there.
You mean the LeMans 24 hour race where Ford and Ferrari complained about the performance advantage that Porsche and Corvette had and petitioned the FIA to place smaller intake restrictors on them so that the GT and the Ferrari could race for the win and then accuse each other of cheating? That 24 hour race? Yes, some of us remember…
Jaguar XJ220 sounds like Escort?
But a 5.2L Coyote would have had more power and the proper sound. A Ford GT should never have a V6 exhaust note.
For tradition, the new Ford GT should have had at least a 351, and for nostalgia, an alloy block 427 Side Oiler; Yes they are made, and weight about as much as the v-sick that they put in it. Since the FIA did the only thing they could to eliminate the Ford GT from LeMans by cutting out REAL MOTORS, as a nostalgia or retro-ride, it would be awesome.
Side note: Watching the last hour of televised coverage of this years LeMans, maybe it should become a 48 HOUR race ! At 24, it still looked like a sprint at the end, time to put the “endurance” back into it. Just my 2 cent…..er 2 Euros worth.
The Fiero needed a better engine but at the time there really was not many great small engines at GM. The V8 was tested but Chevy killed it. They did play with a 2.9 Turbo but in todays numbers it was not powerful. If the 3800 SC was around 10 years sooner.
The Delorean just needed a better small engine V8 weight sticking that far out back is not good for handling
The Ford GM needed an Update of a SC V8 for the price they were charging.
There were many cars in history that could and should have had better engines. But supply and the time the car was built often played a big roll. Most of the cars of the early 80’s had really bad engines but it was all about MPG then and FI was just getting into some cars.
Then we saw engines that could and should have been better. Like the Olds Quad 4. The Cadillac DOHC V8, the Ford OHC V8 engines and just about most V6 engines till the 90’s. Only the Buick Turbo got it right but it took years in 1985 when they finally used a water cooled turbo.
Buicks never used a water cooled turbo, Did you mean intercooled? Started doing that in 86-87 and the 89 TransAm
The problem I envision with a larger / more powerful engine in a Fiero is cooling the beast. There was plenty of room to increase the output of the V6 that I had, but the cooling capacity wasn’t there. It would have taken a radical change to the already unfriendly cooling system to keep a 250-300 HP engine from melting.
If you have a Fiero that has not caught fire yet, there is a solution. There’s an outfit called “V-8 Archie” that sells (or did last I knew) a small block Chevy conversion for the Fiero. I’ve seen several in the Midwest & they seem to work fine, and no more fires ! And since there are alloy small blocks now, it’s even better.
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After the fix was put in after 1984, the Engine fires ceased. The fires were almost exclusive to the 1984 model.
As automotive enthusiasts, please stop perpetuating the Fiero engine fire story. If memory serves me, there were just over two hundred cars that experiences fires. That is not good, but it represents a very small percentage of the total number of Fieros built. Too many people believe that Fieros were catching fire every day. Please stop exaggerating the engine fires. Other cars have experienced engine fires at a much higher rate than did the Fiero.
Actually, it was a 2.8L V6 turbo engine that was tested. It was plenty powerful enough for it do 13.3 in the quarter, and 60 in under 5 seconds. Problem for Chevy was it would absolutely smoke a Corvette of the same era.
Right. And here’s some more free thinking: If a turbocharged V6 Fiero could beat a normally aspirated Corvette, killing the turbo Fiero concept should not have been the answer. A much better solution would have been to turbocharge the Corvette! Win-win. But that’s only a dream. Too radical for GM. Costs would have increased a lot too of course.
The current Lotus cars more than “make do” with their Toyota engines. My ‘08 Elise SC and now V6 supercharged Emira sound great and deliver plenty of fun.
Yeah, that was a strange choice. No Lotus owner wants the same engine the drift kids are souping up their Integras or Civics with. The Toyota 2GR is a fantastic engine.
lotus had a wonderfull v8 in the esprit, but cost is always a factor so we live with the toyota motor. i loved my esprit, and my emira is a wonderfull car so i will live with the toyota motor, Gheely did a great job
Not sure what he means when he says that the chassis of the Lotus deserves the character of a Honda engine as opposed to a Toyota.
VTEC
a forward pointing engine in the Allante would have silenced a lot of the critics, although I have no real complaints with mine
Every Mazda Miata since 1989. My fave would be a Honda JV6, but I’d love to see Mazda put their Skyactive diesel in a Miata. Super torque.
I understand you know a great deal about unusual motors.
“For me, it’s the fact that all Cadillac cars (cars—Escalade excluded) from the last 20 or so years lack a standard V-8 engine. ”
Huh? who cares whats ‘standard’?…most caddy buyers don’t…but the fact that optional V8 engines up to 650hp V8s and excellent V6s in the V series cars are available, along with manual transmissions (gasp!), make me wonder how this could even be mentioned here…hmm
Also, Toyota’s excellent SC’d engines, with TORQUE, are far quite suitable for Lotus… instead of Honduh that are excellent, but need the p___ revved out of them to make power.
Finally, instead of the obscure, extinct, Citroen DS…how about the first gen NSX? It was crying out for way more power than it’s lovely V6 could muster…especially as it was intended to compete with euro exotics. Heck, a Vette that could trash it
Chuck Mallet did conversions putting LS V8s in Skys an Solstices back when cars were new. Stupid fast with slot car handling.
Kits were also sold to put a 350 into the Fiero. Looked like a “factory install”. they would lap corvettes at the old Brainard International Speedway
Maybe I am showing my age, but here are a few off of the top of my head! The Porsche 914-4, later VW Vanagons, Chevy Vega, Fiero, and finally the Triumph Stag!
Stag was my first thought when I saw the article. BL had an all-aluminum V-8 ready to go, and they had to go make a new motor out of two TR-7 engines.
Surprised only one reference to Chevy Vega in many pages of comment. I know the Vega is hated by so many with their own valid reasons (not questioning). Chevy really missed the jump by not putting in their time-tested small-block V8 (which of course became a very popular swap in the 70’s-80’s) and may have precluded the debacle of the powertrain they DID use.
I always felt the Vega was a great little budget/econo car and great handling too (as long as you could fix it yourself!). We had 4 Vegas & knock-offs (Monza etc) in the immediate family while I was commuting to college. In the sunny Southwest we did not have the rust issues prevalent in other regions. So used/salvage parts were abundant (and dirt cheap) due to the infamous engine/powertrain failures.
Could have been a legendary econo/performance car… instead relegated to automotive infamy…
Ontario Motor League (CAA/AAA) had a fleet of their Pontiac station wagon brothers called “Aster” in 1975 in Toronto. Extra big batteries on back floor & tools, floor jack, gas etc. Lots of extra weight , no snow tires, would pull almost anything out of the snowbank or ditch. Even ran a roadblock to help a stranded member. I read that GM was originally going to use steel cylinder sleeves in them but scrapped the idea as they were too reliable. They were a lot better than 2 wheel drive 1973 International Scouts that were tried before. Bleh!!
Yep, the Stag was my first thought when I saw the headline. The nice Buick V6 upgrade seems to be the popular fix still seen often today.
I hate it when people make me defend the Prowler. So a heavier less powerful engine should have been installed because it has “the correct” number of cylinders?
It’s amazing the built it in the first place.
Simple solution, there’s a kit-car called the “Growler” that uses almost any MOPAR V-8. Not a bad build & still looks decent. Tires & all.
Well, only a little over 11,000 sold;
253 HP @ 6400 rpm and a soft low end torque curve was not well suited to the 42RLE transmission. You’re right to a point, but you’re mixing messages when you first point to HP, then simply use the blanket statement “less powerful”. Less powerful – WHERE? With a traditional 4 -speed automatic there is a LONG time to pull through the lower part of the RPM range to get up to the meat of the torque curve. A 6 or 8 speed automatic would make the peaky V6 a better performing combination, but the bottom line is this – if the engine doesn’t make torque, it needs better gearing and more ratios.
The best apples to apples comparison of this is the late W body Impala. LS4 V8 had 3 hp less than the 3.6 HF V6. V8 used a 4-speed auto, V6 used a 6-speed. V6 car was 20 lbs lighter. Without question the V8 acceleration was superior. Torque matters.
A 4.7 SOHC HO engine had a little more HP, but vastly more torque, which given the same or similar transmission gear ratios would have provided superior performance with only slightly more weight.
The Prowler, much like other Halo cars, missed the mark by not being exceptional.
The Gen 2 Challenger would have been a great seller if they had offered the 239 V-6 or even the 318 V-8. I had an ’80 with the 2.6l and 5 speed, it was peppy but a 318…………………………
The Buick Regal Tour X wagon. They could have picked up where the Dodge Magnum left off when it went away. Tour X was good looking, had the space, but couldn’t get out of its own way with instructions and an appointment. GM had corporate engines they could have dropped in. And only for the Tour X, not the Regal sedan. If you want to sell some, make it special and give people a reason to buy/want it. They never did that. Then GM wonders why certain cars don’t sell. Hmmmm.
If my delorean had more oomph than it 140hp, I might have kept it. Swaps are available, but a lot of toruble.
When I read the article’s title, the Delorean was the first car I thought of. When they debuted here (WI) I was recruited to sell it from a local big GM dealer who got the franchise, instead as any sane young man in his 20’s did I moved to southern Florida for the girls, beaches & drugs, in my 280zx! lol
Right on/ did the same in 77