I remember those T-birds. Turbo 2.3L with 150ish HP in the earlier models, ... can't even challenge a Mazda3 nowadays.
I wouldn’t generalize all Turbo-Tbirds that way. That 2.3 was a very strong engine and was found in many other vehicles like the Merkur, and the Mustang SVO.
I have fond memories watching IMSA GTO races in the late 80’s watching how those Cougar XR7’s (T-Birds twin model at that time) totally dominated the field. They raced against Mazda RX-7’s and Nissan 300ZX’s and won the championship outright for two consecutive years.
Sure they were racing cars, and were modified, and the displacement was enlarged to 2.5 liters, but it was based on that 2.3 you can find in that T-Bird turbo. Sure technology has improved since then but I think 600+ Horsepower from a 4 cylinder wasn’t too bad in those days.