Sorry...a typo on my part.

Well, for one thing, teens, a little alcohol, and/or Friday/Saturday-night partying is not a very healthy combo...especially behind the wheel. And teens often turn off the traction controls and other safety-systems because they like to do burnouts..although burnouts are admittedly harder to do in a BEV. So, that's one reason, among several, why I said the Model 3 is not a car for immature or careless drivers.

Perhaps so. I haven't driven very many BEVs, and certainly don't consider myself an expert on them. It's a fact, though, that the AWD Model 3 (an ordinary family-sedan) I sampled would easily smoke the baddest muscle-cars i can remember from the 60s, and especially the 70s, when HP/Torque figures dropped sharply because of emissions-controls, CAFE regulations, and increased vehicle weight.

I get that I may not (?) be like many other drivers, but I had no problem all going from the IS300 to an Outback with more weight and less HP. One reason I chose an Outback, though, even with less power, is that I was tired of the RWD IS300's lousy winter road-manners, which were marginal even with all-season tires, snow-mode for the transmission, and traction control. (it did not have VSC). The AWD Lexus IS did not debut until the second-generation. The Outback was the other extreme on slick roads.....literally nothing I ever encountered here in the D.C. area (even five inches of sleet/ice-pellets) could stop it. It is obvious why the Outback is the Official Car of the U.S. Ski Team. In fact, from what I understand, the older Outbacks (like mine) with the mechanical LSD are even better in snow than the newer ones with the electronic torque-distribution.

 

It’s up to parents of teens to decide whether or not their teens should drive a Tesla with all that power. That’s not a reason not to produce a car with that level of power. With an EV too there are lots of options for limiting power for inexperienced drivers.

As for powerful cars, the gen 1 IS300 was not a car I would consider a powerful car, over 8 seconds 0-60.

 

R&T, I remember, got 7.1, which was not bad for that time....more or less competitive with the BMW 3-series in-line sixes with automatics it competed against.

 

I was driving a BMW 535ix with a screen showing the HP car was using. 99% of the time needle did not pass over 160HP. On full throttle it was going at 220HP and at redline 330HP.

For my personal driving habits where I do not abuse the vehicle or drive recklessly 200 HP on a midsize sedan is perfect. For 2 or 3 minutes a month I could use 300-400 HP but do I need it? Is $30,000 more in purchase price for a 400hp car vs a 200hp one a good investment for me for 3 minutes a month? Probably not.

 

Remember HP is not what gets you accelerated from a stop, and also remember how power curves work. You never use over 200 hp because you stay low in the power band, if you only had 200 hp you would have to have your foot to the floor to access the same power you’re using in that 5 Series.

 

I started driving at 16 with a 1988 Chevrolet Nova with a 3 speed automatic and 74 HP and a 2001 Mazda MPV with 160 HP, both were very slow, IIRC magazines were getting on the MPV 11.5-13.0 seconds to 60, always had to push and rev it out to get around, now I drive a 2014 Honda CR-V and a 2005 Honda Pilot , I find the 3.5 V6 in the Pilot & 2.4 in the CR-V to have just enough power for me on the streets anything faster would be nice but with the speed cameras all over the local streets of NYC it's almost unnecessary. So I suppose any car that can hit 60 like those 2 in around 8 seconds is sufficient for me.

 

Was yours a manual? The auto was/is not that great.....but I will say it's perfectly fine.

 

In a word…more. My Vette had enough and my heavy weight STSV had enough. My GS350 F Sport seems to have enough as well. My Hayabusa certainly has enough too.

 

Correct. You DON'T want to use anywhere near the vehicle's capabilities in casual driving situations, because it leads to an unpleasant experience. This is why I phrased my answer the way I did. Rather than talking about ultimate performance, it was more in terms of what conditions are necessary to achieve adequate performance while providing a very good experience. It's a bit fungible, but being able to accelerate to 60 in 15 seconds or so at well under half throttle, and upshifting less than halfway to redline, feels about right. The engine is never stressed, noisy, or buzzy, and performance is still acceptable when you're not in a hurry. If you ARE in a hurry, well then you give up that smoothness and quietness for more pep.

 

Yep, I think you're on the money

 

No...it was an auto. The 5MT IS300 did not debut until 2002. Lexus only offered one because of the wrangling it got from the auto press when the IS (essentially a rebadged Toyota Altezza) was initially offered as auto-only.

 

i used to live in a hilly area so i always wanted more torque to get home and better brakes coming down. i do agree gearing/trans programming is everything. HP is pointless if it cannot be utilized to the situation.

to add a variable, i actually consider gas consumption as part of my power "need" so that's a balance i consider when to or not to step on it (blame the cheapskate in me). if the car/truck has a good balance of power and sips gas, that would be my ideal. i think an EV wins here haha!

my old accord with an prelude engine does just fine for all my power with fuel consumption needs. it just isn't as comfortable to drive as the newer cars of course.
unacceptable is my wife's outback 2.5 CVT. i see why everyone doesn't like traditional CVTs (i understand eCVTs are different) - it just makes driving the car not as enjoyable with the power band not where i want it at all! i always have to resort to using the paddles in sport mode to get the right amount of acceleration. the 2.5 itself is also very anemic!

 

The answer is always MORE! of course.

In almost 18 years of driving, I've owned only 4 vehicles:
1989 Pontiac Firebird V6 - 135 HP/165 lb-ft. Slow as heck, but the manual made it somewhat fun.
1992 Lexus LS 400 - 250 HP/260 lb-ft. I'd call the power pleasantly adequate, though I would have preferred a bit more low-end torque from a V8.
2012 Ford Fusion V6 - 240 HP/223 lb-ft. It was fine, only FWD car I've ever owned.
2015 Ford F-150 V8 - 385 HP/387 lb-ft. Love it. This thing hauls the mail. I did tune it so it's probably closer to 400/400. Would never say no to more power though.

 

I saw something interesting today. A Scion xA was road raging on a Porsche Cayenne, not sure what the driver of the Cayenne had done to this person, but they were just driving normally from what I could see. The xA was basically trying to run the Cayenne off the road, refusing to let them merge from an onramp. Cayenne just put his foot down and poof, he was gone and merged lol Good luck catching up xA.

 

I don’t get why people road rage.