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Is all that horsepower necessary for everyday living?




Here is a post inspired by a segment done by James May on Top Gear. He was saying that a car is the most entertaining to drive when it is being driven at its limit, and I agree with him 100%. Take, for example, the new and very beloved Suzuki Swift Sport. Yeah it doesn’t have a lot of horsepower, but the most fun of driving any car is when you are driving the car at its limit of capabilities. For the Swift, it's limits are going to be pretty low, meaning you can achieve them way easier than say the limits of a Ferrari or Lamborghini, or even just a car with 250hp. Wringing every last rev out of the engine and changing gears often is when driving is fun. It may sound wrong, but which would you rather do: trundle in a Ferrari at very low speeds, or thrash a small and underpowered car around at its comparatively lower limits of ability? I know most people would automatically say "well of course a Ferrari!", but just think about it. Going back to the idea that a car is fun when driven at its limit and applying it to a Ferrari means that you would have to be driving it at outrageous speeds and going around tight corners at motorway speeds. A 1.6L 4-cylinder engine Swift Sport on skinny tires, on the other hand, will have its tires squealing for mercy at around 30mph while going around corners, and you will be able to rev the engine as high as it can tolerate more of the time, meaning you will be having a hell of a lot more fun. So, is all the horsepower that new cars are trying to pack necessary? Isn’t it all a bit excessive? When, in everyday driving, can you use the 560hp of an Italia without putting your life in danger? By no means, though, am I saying that a Suzuki Swift Sport is a better car than any Italian supercar, and they are in two different realms when it comes to the car world. But in the real world, away from the race track, a world which is plagued with potholes and red lights, it just may be the more entertaining car to drive more of the time. 

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