A number of years ago hot hatches didn’t need that much power. They were good family cars because everyone could squeeze in and the light weight meant that the inevitably little power they made was still enough to put a grin on the driver’s face. Now though a family car is much more likely to be an SUV than a ‘normal’ hatchback. And more than that, it’s likely to have little in the way of BHP to move you.
The reasoning behind this for manufacturers is simple – the UK is a reasonably sized market and Europe also has a number of countries with high fuel prices. To combat this, engines have downsized but also seen a requisite drop in power. Some manufacturers however have tried to combat this by either forcing more from less (Ford’s brilliant 1 litre EcoBoost engine) or simply sticking to diesel for more torque. Higher end vehicles feature one, two or even three turbochargers to assist in forcing more power from less fuel.
So where do you stand? Are you happy that most engines now run as frugally as possible at the cost of driving fun and 0-62 times or do you want a little more grunt from your powerplant? As always, answers in the comments below…
Leave a Reply