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?
Weight and balance is more important to me than power
For daily use as long as it can move out of its own way I don’t care. Or as a ballpark if it can do 0-60 in at least 8 seconds I’m fine with it.
If I want a fun car I’d like the 0-60 to be under 5 seconds
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.
If it can do 100+km/hrs going up a 10% grade, I’m happy.
In other news, my current daily is the first vehicle I’ve owned that I’d call unreasonably slow. It weighs about 4500 lbs and was rated at 130hp out of the factory 30+ years ago
It heavily depends on a bunch of other factors too, like power-curves and transmissions. Like an older Prius takes it’s time reaching 60mph but feels completely adequate because of how responsive & torquey the drivetrain is.
64hp , with a 10k rpm limit.
Anything that will hit 60 in under 8.5 or 9 seconds is good 'nuff for regular daily driving.
Hell I drive an old Forester with a worn out engine that I’m sure I couldn’t get to 60 in under 10 if I abused the hell out of it … and I still very rarely use the entire rev range or all it’s power.
Sure, my other car that will do 60 in about 7 is a lot more relaxing and fun to drive, but I have no issues actually merging or keeping up with traffic even in the slower one.
laughs in 60hp
My previous car had 75 hp and was 13s 0-100km/h I think. Even that didn’t feel underpowered in traffic thanks to short gear ratios. On the other side it needed lot of gear shifting to get it moving fast so it was pretty involved to drive it.
My current car has 125 hp and 9,2s 0-100 km/h. It’s much nicer to drive because of the higher torque of the engine and longer gears.
I live in NYC. The Trax/Envista would be perfectly adequate for me. Where I live there isn’t even enough room to open up a Miata.
It’s not so much about power/acceleration anymore. It’s about fun factor for me. What the point of having a 600 HP EV or gas powered vehicle when you the only time you can use all that power is either a) for 3 seconds from a stoplight, or b) on a track.
It’s entirely subjective. Torque is usually the best way to “feel” power. But there’s other factors in it too. Softer suspension tilts the car back on launch and adds to the acceleration feeling. I had a blast in my totally stock Focus ST I had back in 2013. But then I lowered it to reduce body roll and it honestly felt a good amount slower. So much so that I thought maybe something went wrong with the install but nope, it was fine lol. Once the car doesn’t tilt back as much, the only thing to push you back in the seat is g forces from accelerating and the stock ST didn’t have much of that in 1st or 2nd gear because of traction limitations.
So, I ended up going full bolt on and a tune, and while it blew the doors off my buddy’s stock ST, when I’d drive his, his felt faster lol.
Bottom line: stats aren’t everything, just gotta go drive it and see how it feels
Edit: not to mention a FBO focus ST sounds like ass
I’ve felt perfectly content driving an 18hp Citroen 2CV yet completely underwhelmed in a 130hp Honda Fit
I don’t have a hard line, the only thing I’m interested in is whether or not a car is enjoyable.
So I guess the 9hp, 375cc Citroen 2CV would be the hard line in terms of slowness.