13 Underpowered Cars With a V8 Engine
In the mid-1970s, the American V8 engine lost a ton of power, and it’s only recently that they’ve managed to regain it.
This is usually blamed on the stricter emissions laws, and there’s no doubt lower compression ratios, milder cams, restrictive heads, and catalytic converters affect power, but there’s more to it than that. Car manufacturers also went from gross to net hp ratings, which is a more honest way of rating the power.
Today, we have small 4-cylinder engines producing 100s of horses, so it’s funny to look back at these 13 gutless V8-powered models.
1976 Cadillac Eldorado
Let’s start with what may be the most obvious underpowered car with a V8. The 1976 Cadillac Eldorado was front-wheel drive, and under its very long hood, was a massive 8.2-liter V8 engine with almost no power.
In 1976, the Cadillac 500ci V8 engine only produced 178 hp. While the Eldorado was never a performance car, it’s really hard for car enthusiasts to get excited about this poorly built, underpowered land yacht.
1975 Dodge Charger Daytona
In 1969 and 1970, the Dodge Charger Daytona dominated the NASCAR circuit, but by 1975, it was just another luxobarge. In fact, the Daytona was now just a trim package for the Dodge Charger SE, which, in turn, was nothing more than a badge-engineered Chrysler Cordoba.
To make matters even worse, the Charger Daytona was severely underpowered. Three engine options were available, with the 400ci being the most powerful, but with just 190 hp, it was still appalling.
1979 Dodge Magnum GT
Dodge introduced the Magnum in 1978 to supplement the Dodge Charger. It had a more aerodynamic design than the Charger, making it a better option for NASCAR racing. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? It wasn’t!
In 1979, the top-spec Magnum GT had a 360ci “Police Interceptor” engine churning out 195 hp. While it’s far from the weakest V8 from this era, it had to move a 3,900 lb car.
1971 Pontiac Ventura II Sprint
In 1971, Pontiac moved its Ventura name to a new model, the Ventura II. It was not built by Pontiac themselves. Instead, it was built by Chevrolet for Pontiac and was essentially a rebadged Nova.
The Sprint model was the top trim, and in 1971, the biggest engine available was a 307ci, producing 200 gross hp, which is around 140 SAE net horses — not very impressive for a 5.0-liter.
1982 Chevrolet Camaro
The 1982 Chevrolet Camaro certainly looks the part. From the outside, it’s muscular and square-jawed, with sharp lines and angles. Pop the hood, and you’ll even find a large V8 engine.
Unfortunately, it’s not a particularly good V8 engine. Although it had a 5.0-liter displacement, it only produced a paltry 143 hp, or less than 29 hp per liter. In comparison, the Volkswagen Rabbit GTI from the same year had a 1.8-liter with 112 hp.
1980 California Corvette
Chevrolet launched the third generation of its iconic Corvette in 1968. During its 14 years on the market, there were several high-powered versions, but the California version from 1980 isn’t one of them.
As its name suggests, it was built for the Californian market, a state that takes greenhouse gases and emission controls very seriously. To keep it legal, the California Corvette was given a 305 V8 producing 180 hp, which was just sad, and then they mated it to an automatic transmission to ensure it was truly miserable to drive.
1978 Ford Mustang II King Cobra
As the muscle car was dying, Ford replaced the first-gen Mustang with the smaller, lighter, and less powerful Mustang II. Today, there aren’t many gearheads who’d look twice at it, but it was the right car for Ford at the time, and they sold 1.1 million cars in 4 years.
In 1978, Ford launched a “high performance” version — the King Cobra. It was a limited edition that was only available with a 302 Windsor V8. As cool as that sounds, it still only had 139 hp, which wasn’t even impressive for that era.
1975 Chevrolet Nova
1975 was the first year of the fourth-gen Chevrolet Nova, and it didn’t look anything like its predecessor. Ironically, the new Nova’s brochure said, “Now it’s beautiful,” which couldn’t have been further from the truth.
To go with its questionable looks, Chevrolet offered the 1975 Nova with a 262 ci V8 engine. It only produced 110 hp and proved so unpopular among buyers that they discontinued that option the following year.
1980 Pontiac Firebird
Pontiac offered the 1980 Firebird with several engine options, one of which was the 265 V8, which produced a rather underwhelming 120 hp.
The Firebird was also offered with the Buick V6 and the Pontiac 301 V8, which only produced around 140 hp, so performance, fuel consumption, and emissions would be very similar. To make matters worse, the 265 could only be ordered with the TH200 automatic transmission.
1980 Oldsmobile Toronado
When the Oldsmobile Toronado was first introduced in the mid-1960s, it was a stylish and innovative luxury coupe. By 1980, it was still a luxury coupe, but a lot less stylish.
It was also offered with a couple of horribly underpowered V8 engines. There was the 307 gas engine producing 140 hp, but even worse, it could be ordered with the infamous Oldsmobile Diesel V8. Oldsmobile essentially converted a gas engine to run on diesel. It was horrendously unreliable, and with only 120 hp, it was also weak.
GMC G20 and G30
The Chevrolet/GMC G-Series van was introduced in 1964, and its third and final generation ran from 1971 to 1996.
One of the engine options available for the G-Series van was the naturally aspirated 6.2-liter diesel V8 that only mustered 128 hp. Granted, it was a solid unit that also saw military use, but it made the van as slow as molasses.
1981 Pontiac Trans Am Turbo
In 1980, turbocharging was still a novel concept. Some manufacturers, such as Porsche and BMW, had successfully built turbocharged cars, but it wasn’t exactly mainstream. Pontiac then decided to make a turbocharged Trans Am, and the result was rather underwhelming.
The turbo Trans Am was only offered in 1980 and 1981, and the Pontiac 301 Turbo V8 engine produced an officially factory-rated 200 hp in 1981. That’s 200 hp in a turbocharged 4.9-liter V8! We’ve come a long way since then, as that kind of power is what a 1.4-liter with a small turbo will produce today.
1991 Rolls-Royce Corniche
It’s not just the American carmakers who’ve produced underpowered V8-engined cars. Across the pond, Rolls-Royce installed its 6.75-litre V8 in the 1991 Corniche.
It’s actually a great engine, as proven by its lengthy production run. First introduced in 1959, it remained in production until 2020, obviously with some updates along the way, such as a pair of turbochargers. The 1991 Corniche didn’t have any turbochargers, though, so power was limited to 215 horses, a far cry from the Bentley Mulsanne that squeezed out more than 500 ponies from the same unit.
