Personally, even when it was really the only game in town, I always thought Motor Week was kind of dorky, and John Davis' delivery was way overwrought. But I was still stoked that the HP writers dug up this old XJS test... Is it me, or did Davis get hammier as the show went on? He looks pretty young here...

 

yep, he got hammier and cornier. Almost to the point that the show was irrelevant. If I wanted to listen to a commercial for a car I would just watch tv or look at a magazine. Not a lot of objectivity and the grading criteria focused on inconsequential things to the average guy.

Still I liked this old edition since I have an '87.

Story says the car had 262 hp with 290 ft lbs torque. On my car I have removed the dual cat's and replaced them with a single larger volume unit on each side as well as removed the resonators. I wonder what that did to my hp by allowing it to breathe easier, less back pressure. At some point I'd consider replacing the stock air cleaner/breathers with a Growler style setup to allow better air flow on the intake.

 

Ha ha! Way "hammier and cornier." It was kid of hard to take him seriously in the later episodes.

 

still and all, it was the 1st TV car show that drove and had opinions about them!

times change and people change, we all will.

my father said that rock&roll music would never amount to anything!
boyoh, was he ever wrong.

 

The Aussie version is quoted at 284hp and 320ftlbs with cats, I do not know what all the differences are but 20hp and 30ftlbs is there easily. I suspect ignition timing and maybe fueling as well. We did not get the air pump and those restrictive cats in the down pipes.

 

I just saw this video pop up on youtube. I guess in 87 it was a pretty good car.