That 2.5 L 4 cyl GM engine was around for a long, long time -- the Iron Duke.
(EDIT: Derp, I guess the Iron Duke was completely different -- no matter, I still have a good story to tell!
)
I'll skip the details, but we had a hand-me-down '84 (AMC-era) Jeep Wagoneer (which, at that point, was a version of the then-new Cherokee 4 dr design with fancier trim). The poor thing was equipped with the aforementioned 4-cyl and a 5 speed manual transmission. It could barely get out of its own way. We replaced it with a Ford Explorer (1993 model, with a V6 and A/T) which was larger, more powerful, much nicer -- and got better mileage