[2011G6E]

"And let’s not forget that the AU Falcon of 1998 boasted a power figure of just 157kW, and nobody ever complained that that car was underpowered".

Says it all really.

The thing that let down the four cylinder Commodores from VC to VH was the Starfire Four...while it wasn't a bad engine as a unit and was quite unburstable and reliable, it really needed a properly engineered four cylinder from somewhere else in the GM lineup at the time from somewhere else in the world...they used an Opel four cylinder in the Sunbird after all, so there was a precedent.
However, at the time all four cylinders were pretty slack when it came to power...turbos were rare, double overhead cams were rarer still, only in little light-weight Italian stuff usually. A quick glance at a Wheels magazine from 1982 shows that power levels were all around the 50 to 70kw range for most manufacturers common four cylinders, with Italian stuff like Fiats and Lancias up around 80 to 90kw. The four cylinder Commodore only put out 55kw, and the two liter single OHC Ford engine that was mooted to be put in the XD as a base model was gone by then anyway.
You could probably say that they were "cars made well before they should have been".
There is another thread on here about the new FT86 from Toyota, and how the four cylinder non-turbo engine "only" puts out 147kw...times have changed, and four cylinders are not really seen by many people as a "lesser engine" and something to be embarassed to be seen driving.

I reckon once people actually get over the size of the engine and drive this new Falcon, they'll be plesantly surprised. Especially given that the staggeringly vast majority of buyers don't care about 0-100 and quarter mile times...