How much horsepower is enough?

[cfm56d7b]

Originally Posted by Burrcold

In my opinion the sweet spot for a "powerful" DAILY DRIVER is 350-400 hp and awd. Of course more will be more fun but it's not exactly usable and can be draining in stop and go traffic. Again I'm talking about a real life daily driver car though.

Well said. Could not agree more. 320 HP is plenty for a daily driver and B58 in stock form would represent the ideal choice.

[FuriouslyFast]

Originally Posted by cfm56d7b

Well said. Could not agree more. 320 HP is plenty for a daily driver and B58 in stock form would represent the ideal choice.

I try to talk myself into things like that...then I stomp the go pedal in the Hellcat & it all goes out the window. I'm screwed on my next car. This thing has ruined me.

[New2Roundel]

Max hp for me depends on things like weight and torque. Personally, I think between 400-500hp is about perfect for the street. I currently have 3 performance cars at my disposal: A heavily modded Corrado VR6 with about 250hp; generally stock e92 M3 with 414hp; and a completely stock Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT with 470 hp. The corrado is my lightest car, by far, weighing in at about 2700 lbs. That car feels about adequate--not super fast, but ok. Though it needs to be driven hard to get the car moving. The BMW is a lot heavier, with a lot more power and the delta not nearly being as big on the torque side vs the VW. This car is interesting in that you can drive the car entirely normal and sedately if that's your wish. It's not terribly quick under 3500 rpms. Like VW, this car needs to be wrung out and once you do that, this car flies. But because of the Jackle and Hyde nature of this vehicle, it's perfectly driveable. And even when pushed hard you can still have fun and not feel like it's dangerously fast. The Jeep weighs a lot more than the M3. It has a good amount more power and vastly more torque. The whole experience feels a lot more immediate, but again, it doesn't feel like it's too much. If I need/want to move swiftly past traffic, I can easily do so. There's a little bit of work that needs to be done to get moving, but the torque feels great.

I think the caveat here is that it's really a lot about what you're used to. I've been driving 400+hp cars since 2012, so they don't seem super fast or unmanageable. If I moved up to a 600hp car, I'd probably lose my mind. But owners who already have a 600hp or greater vehicle probably don't feel that the power is too much. I would image folks who own and have a lot of seat time in Hellcat powered vehicles, probably think that 600hp vehicles aren't that impressive.

[PopsnBurbles]

I've been sharing cars with my brother recently. Between the two of us, I've had the chance to daily a W204 C63 (~450hp), an F-Type V8 S (~490hp), an e30 325is (~165hp), and a 135is (~320hp). On top of that, I am able to borrow a Range Rover Sport v6 (~340hp).

I can honestly say 300hp (+/- 50hp) is more than enough. It is plenty fast enough for almost all applications. I do not feel like I am held back when driving for any reason. With the 135is especially, it is enough for most city driving situations. 300hp is enough for highway. Anything more than that feels like I'm held back and I sometimes even feel more arrogant simply because I have so much power at my disposal.

Regardless, that is not going to stop me from tuning my 135

I still think the 135 and the e30 are the most fun cars to DD among the list of cars I wrote. There's just something about small (and easy to drive) cars that make them wonderful.

[KevinGS]

I agree with that it's more fun to drive a slower car fast than a fast car slow.

And on the street and track, if you're blasting off, and then riding the brake to slow down at every corner or turn, it's not nearly as fun for me than driving a slower (and lighter) car at 9/10 or 10/10 riding the knife's edge.

I like the surge of massive horsepower, for a little while, then I get bored with having too much horsepower.

[Mr Carrots]

@700 WHP with plenty of supercharger instant torque is fine for me, I know guys pushing 900+ with e85 and turbo setups but that's more than the stock block can handle


I could never go back to the stock levels bmw offers in most of their cars

[clee1982]

Originally Posted by Mr Carrots

@700 WHP with plenty of supercharger instant torque is fine for me, I know guys pushing 900+ with e85 and turbo setups but that's more than the stock block can handle


I could never go back to the stock levels bmw offers in most of their cars

Where can you use this other than 2 second highway pull?

[Soterios]

Originally Posted by clee1982

Where can you use this other than 2 second highway pull?

More frequent, 8 second pulls on the highway.

[clee1982]

8 second 750hp from 60 miles will get you to what?

[N54Yankee]

More then likely a hwy pull win

[RM7]

Originally Posted by N54Yankee

More then likely a hwy pull win

Maybe at partial throttle...starting from highway speeds that'd still rip the tires loose with that much HP, unless you did it in top gear...in which case there's no real point to having all that HP, since less in a lower gear would accelerate just as fast...

[Soterios]

Originally Posted by clee1982

8 second 750hp from 60 miles will get you to what?

Fast@FastMPH

[thestimp]

I like a 200hp minimum to keep driving fun alive. I think 500hp is enough and you hit the financial exponential around there. Over 500hp and you need to spend the bills and find a place to actually use it.

I daily a stage 2 and I cant get enough of that 10mpg fun!

[N54Yankee]

Originally Posted by JamesNoBrakes

Maybe at partial throttle...starting from highway speeds that'd still rip the tires loose with that much HP, unless you did it in top gear...in which case there's no real point to having all that HP, since less in a lower gear would accelerate just as fast...

Yup, I have that issue in my weekender.

[clee1982]

Or like too fast on public road...? 8 second, 750hp, rolling from 65mph...

[Soterios]

The real question that this thread is asking : Are you willing to break the law or not?

If no, then stock power.

If yes, then more power than stock.

[cfm56d7b]

There is really no perfect answer to this question. I'd like to add that one of way of at least trying to answer this question is by asking how much power does one need in emergency situations. For example, rapidly accelerating while changing lanes to avoid someone rear ending the vehicle. Or - quickly passing 5 trucks occupying right and middle lanes.

Power as a function of safety margin would be how I would look at this question.

[EXE46]

I find my M340i ideal for a stock car, never in a situation where I yearned for more power. I have had cars with less power and they were never adequate for daily street driving, granted my priors were all under 300hp. With the M340i, merging on busy highways and getting out of harms way is a non issue.

[E93_Savage]

Stopping under 450. .useless to make more for where I like to drive. Just enough to tug the e93 uphill in the tights.

[TomHudson]

The e90 doesn’t suffer from horsepower, but torque,

[Rmtt]

Originally Posted by TomHudson

The e90 doesn’t suffer from horsepower, but torque,

IMO.....that makes it more fun to drive at times. You have to rev it and keep the rpms up.

With my C6....I'm at 400 ft/lbs to the wheel before 3K rpm. It's fun, but you can't really open it up unless you are on a track.

[Transfer]

9-10 lbs/HP.