Modern, fuel injected V6’s...even straight 6’s (BMW) put out more power than this.
And modern 600cc sport bikes have more HP than the same most powerful ‘muscle bikes’ of the mid 1980’s.
Fuel injection and engine management are the reason.
Indeed they do. Some 4 bangers can match it too. But for 1987, this thing was pretty hot. A friend of mine had one and he put down many V8s in the quarter.
The feds also had a fleet of Regals. Bought them for their speed and agility. Again ... it may not stack up to modern cars, but we're talking about 1987 here.
HP ratings are also computed differently back then..
Also for 2-3 grand (Or less) this GNX can be down in the 10 second range. Many of those modern FI v6's take mucho $$ to get in the 10 second range.
Some cars cost alot to modify and some don't. . What made this car special is that it could be made to go fast for very little money. Some of them rice burners have $15-20k in engine mods and they still can't match this car or the lesser V-6 regular GN.
Wonder how it handles, too?
Do a Grand National youtube search. Regardless of the numbers, that car can outrun just about anything that’s stock.