Normal people don't tend to talk about cars. So everyone you do see is to some extent an enthusiast or someone who totally hates it. I guess manual gearboxes help you to get more out of less power, maybe the smaller cars here are lighter than in the US? Equally most of the cars in the 60hp range are commuter cars, that do 30mins to an hour of driving every day. All they need to do is a little bit of motorway, possibly some windy roads and town driving. My parents "big" car is a Hyundai I40 which has somewhere around 130hp, it seems pretty happy doing 6 hour journeys while towing a caravan. Although the clutch does smell quite heavily after going up a steep hill. So I don't really buy that you need over 150hp even on a bigger car unless it is doing very heavy work every day (not just four times a year). US culture is portrayed quite heavily in the UK as being very interested in out doing your neighbours and excess etc. Obviously I can't comment on the reality without being there but it seems plausible. Obviously what people need and what they want are not always connected and if cars are your thing better performance is going to be attractive.
Jeeps are big? This is news to me. I've always though of Jeeps being quite small, Though I've also treated them like sports cars too, flying along narrow twisty roads and the like. They're actually quite good at it. I used my red 4 cylinder YJ as my work vehicle for a while, it could get almost 25 MPG, although with a 120 HP 2.5L 4 Cylinder, It wasn't exactly fast. It didn't much like hills either.
Jeeps aren't lemons because they have low power, they are lemons because FCA makes some of the worst cars in the US fresh from the factory.
I'd say we like power for a few reasons. #1 is penis. We want the bigger car. They're cheapish and we don't have very many taxes on performance cars, gas is VERY cheap. If I can get a car for $31k that makes 435hp and 400lb-ft why not? I get to show off. Also V8 sounds. I can wake up my neighbor with my American sound-penis. #2 is "comfort" or excess. We usually won't need it, but is it nice to be able to power through anything smoothly? Yeah. Is it nice to ease the throttle for a smooth advancement and still gain a lot of speed? Yeah. #3 our cars weigh more. We've got fat cars. #4 we do have some roads that more power is very helpful. Getting my car (385hp/333lb-ft) actually really helped with highway merging into traffic. Here some exits are close enough to the on ramp that there is traffic on the on ramp, so to get to speed for the interstate it's nice to be able to merge and then mash the gas and get to speed.
True, that too. Maybe that fits under excess, there's nothing like feeling 450hp under the gas pedal.
Words can't describe how happy this car makes me. Jumping into the power debate; with 210hp at the disposal of my right foot, I've never felt "slow". I can get out of my own way, pass, etc., etc. Hell, my Corolla had ~85hp getting to the front wheels and it still didn't feel dangerously slow.
On the merging topic, merging onto highways/motorways is something that exists in most countries, short slip roads and on ramps also exist. If I could do it in a sub 100hp Honda Jazz (Honda Fit for you US guys/gals) then you don't need twice that to do it safely, never mind 4 times that. Of course it is nice to have, but it really isn't a safety concern with 80-100hp in a Honda Jazz, with a 60hp car with 0-60 in the 18 second range, I can see that being an issue. The reality is most of the HP translates to top speed because of the gearing in high horsepower vehicles. And how often do you take your cars above 120mph? Unless you live in certain parts of Germany I doubt the answer is often.
Not american cars. They are built to go fast in a straight line, and are geared for straight line speed. Also, you can go fast in the wastes of the Mojave desert, on th great driving roads in the Appalachians, and quite a few other places.
Without a viewing and good understanding of the issues these cars may have after 6 years of abuse, no, probably not.
Awwww... And yes, it is really illegal. I think no, they are usually really beat up from being run really rough. Even if it is a state police car, it may have been in a few too many pursuits down the I95
