What's The Antidote To Poweritis?

Thanks for that Jezza. Very insightful as usual, but it's time for your sponge bath now.

Anyway, back to it; it’s easy to look at the the new 960bhp McLaren P1 or the Bugaytti Veyron which packs three trillion horsepower and decide that your next wheels absolutely must have at least 500bhp.

But when your car is so well endowed that you can keep up with motorway traffic without even shifting out of first, where’s the fun? No one gets a semi from driving like a nun to avoid being banged up for driving 100mph over the speed limit. Unless you are a nun…but then you might have some trouble getting a semi in the first place.

So what’s the antidote to poweritis? Hailing from the 'rand of the lising sun', the Subaru Impreza WRX and the Honda Integra Type-R offer two tasty solutions for £4k.

The Impreza is a Gran Turismo hero and absolute rally demon. With a burbling 2.0-litre turbo engine nestling beneath its oversized air scoop and four wheel drive tech underneath, the Impreza can beat bumpy, twisty B roads, gravel tracks, monsoons and blizzards into submission. With 225 ponies to exploit, the WRX slingshots its way to 60 in under six seconds but isn’t so relentlessly fast that the popo will come and take your licence away every time you put your foot down.

The Integra on the other hand, begs to be thrashed with a mental 190bhp engine which spins up to nearly 9000rpm. And thanks to its lightweight chassis the Integra is equally happy devouring corners as straights. The Integra might spring to 60 in safely under seven seconds but is suitably tame under 6000rpm that you won’t find yourself driving everywhere at 130mph with blue lights in your rearview mirror.

Yes, we might like more power than these two Japs offer. But in a country full of fuzz and speed cameras we think any more power is too much.

Tell us where you draw the line.