Especially as EV production is ramping up, with a glut of new pretty-dang-quick bottom-spec cars, the base-spec engines on gas-powered economy cars are getting a lot of flak from auto journalists. Praise for Mazda, Subaru, and even Hyundai often carries the caveat that the base engine is painfully lethargic. The best example of this I’ve seen is the new Trax/Buick Envista: they totally punch above their class in absolutely everything but powertrain, where they’re left with a 137 horsepower 1.2 liter 3 banger. Getting to 60 takes more than 9 seconds, with the quarter mile taking 17.
Having experienced 138 Chevy-bred horses in the last econobox I owned (which was much lighter and had a stick), I think the engine completely talks me out of even recommending these cars to people who aren’t particularly concerned with power and enjoyment. Ditto for CVT-powered base Imprezas and Crosstreks. However, in economy-class cars pushing over 175, engine upgrades often feel frivolous to me (like the CX-5: the base engine just generally seems like a better value for most buyers). So, I guess I’d put my bottom line around 150 horsepower for small cars, 175 for compact SUVs, and for anything bigger than that, I just push for minivans, which haven’t been underpowered for quite some time.
That still seems pretty forgiving, so what about y’all?
Around 100hp.
Me having one of the original us made economy car “import fighters”(4 door chevy chevette) with its 62 HP i can honestly say there are times its not exactly safe due to the low hp. Around town in traffic? perfectly fine. highway crusing? 60 mph is 60 mph. it handles hills suprisingly well as long as A noone else is with you and B you get a running start. Starting off at the bottom of a steep hill yea your goin up it in 2nd and maintaining 15-20mph lol
Jamming it up to speed on majority of interstate onramps is a chore and you need ALL the ponies. God help you if its uphill. I have merged with hazards flashing away before… pulling out onto a busy road is also a nogo - what gaps that would be fine for something modern are just not feasible in that car. I absolutely love it though just wish it had a tad more oomph. like 100 hp in that light of a car would be perfect. I think its 0-60 is something like 13 sec…
I had an s10 with the 2.2L 5 speed combo with a whole 120hp but 96 at the wheels. it was fine nearly everywhere honestly but yes you dont need to be afraid to use all the gas pedal and rev out each gear before shifting. The only thing that was a pain in that was 2 lane road passing.