Is power really everything?

• Modern cars are becoming more and more powerful.
• Does having a lot of horsepower guarantee that you will have fun behind the wheel?
• Does automotive fun only come through acceleration?
• Are there still cars that aren’t powerful but are fun to drive?

A milestone has been reached

She decorated the wall of my teenage bedroom. Black, with the elytra doors open, I remember it all the more fondly because I was lucky enough to spend a few minutes on board one day as a passenger. A privilege since in the 90s, the Lamborghini Diablo was a rare monster, what we today call a supercar. So imagine: 492 hp drawn from a V12 as fabulous as it is melodious for the basic version (propulsion) of a beautiful but nasty Italian which was certainly not to be put into everyone’s hands.

Back in 2024. If the power level of the Diablo is still very respectable today, models of 300 hp and often much more are now available from almost all manufacturers (Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, MG… to recite nobody else but them). And you don’t need to win the lottery to get one or have a professional pilot’s license to drive them. This is particularly the case with many electric cars. But does having a lot underfoot equate to driving pleasure? No way !

The pleasure is in the acceleration? Not so sure…

A 0 to 100 km/h in 2 seconds and trifles. Who says better ? The one who will say it the following week in a video broadcast on the Internet with unverifiable values and conditions (tires, weather, car prepared?). Above all, this all makes no sense. In recent years, and with the advent of wattages, the acceleration capabilities of models are increasingly highlighted as the ultimate value in guaranteeing sportiness.

If this is important, it is not everything and it is not new! First of all because if the roads were all straight lines, this would be known. Then, these famous “drag races” have never been the ultimate test for gauging the sportiness of a car. Proof of this is with many Americans (but not only) who were already “performing” in the 60s (and even before) in the field but were “trestles” at the first turn (when they braked before!). This observation still applies today, particularly with electric ones, but not only that. Accelerating like dragsters in a straight line, many modern cars are trucks in curves with a very high weight that technology can erase but not erase. totally. So beware!

Quarrel of bell towers

Beyond these observations, many manufacturers are putting forward crazy acceleration times. But what exactly are we talking about? With instantaneous torque delivered immediately and in the majority of cases now, four-wheel drive so that it goes to the ground, it is logical that a wattage leaves behind a thermal of equivalent power on a simple 0 to 100 km/h . But we never show the rest of the exercise over 1,000 meters when the electric has already given everything for a long time… And in any case, beyond this antagonism between pro and anti battery-powered cars, the observation is the same. There are electric vehicles that are not very powerful but are fun to drive for a whole bunch of other reasons (Renault Mégane E-Tech, Fiat 500e, the late Honda e…). As there are also thermals in the same scenario. You can appreciate the transparency of operation of a hybrid car or take pleasure in not going to the pump often by playing to save fuel. In short, power and the acceleration that results from it are really not everything.

The sound barrier

If it is obvious that the adrenaline level rises faster with a rocket on wheels than a twenty-horsepower lung, the automobile charm holds and that is what gives all the salt to our common passion, a whole bunch of other things. The first is his soul, the engine of which is the epicenter. As they say at Harley Davidson, more than horses, you have to have your share of “good vibes”, in other words, good vibrations. Like the Milwaukee machines, Fiat 500 (the one from the 1950s) or Citroën 2 CV thus relied on twin-cylinders that can be described without exaggeration as asthmatic in terms of timing. But between their pleasant sound and of course a nostalgic favorite for everything else, these two venerable old cars are considered real pleasure cars by those who collect them and all those, and there are very many of them, who love them. In a broader sense, the sound signature is sometimes the first reason for purchase and source of pleasure, of one model rather than another. A straight six doesn’t sing like a V6 or like a flat engine. Ask what Porsche, Alfa Romeo, Subaru or BMW fans think. In the same way, we can appreciate the characteristic tone of a five-cylinder, mechanical architecture which only remains with Audi since Volvo abandoned it. And going down the range, a 1.0 l. three atmospheric cylinders which powers a Toyota Aygo X is obviously not a lightning war. But we can find charm in it with a song that is pleasant to the ear…