I mean, the KA is inferior to the SR in some ways, but the SR is inferior to the KA in some ways too. It's not the world's greatest engine but for all the hate it receives it gets the job done. Looking at all the swaps from CA to SR to RB even out to 2JZ and LS1, in the end a 240 doesn't need much more than about 300 to the wheels to be a hell of a fun car. You can do a rebuild on a KA, throw some forged pistons in it, and run 300 all day on 12-14 psi from an S15 turbo. All for less than pretty much every other option.

But the cool thing to do is suck at driving, crash your car into a curb attempting and failing to drift, blow the engine, and brag about it because the KA is a piece of shit for failing by oil starvation.