OV9

Prompted by a comment by @Alex88 in the EV thread.

More and more EV's with bhp numbers we would once have considered barely believable.

You may set the "now... this is getting silly" bar to whatever number you feel is appropriate...."

You need to make it multiple choice!

I fail to see the point of chasing the bigger numbers. I'd be more impressed if they focused on improving the range/efficiency and made a fuss about that.

Not sexy, but more real world use.

Edit: watch Jason Cammisa's video on the Tesla Model S.

I'm fairly meh about it but I do think I'd want a Turbo if I got a Taycan - just because it's more betterer obvs.

The headline figures are only available in particular modes (e.g launch control), for a brief period, or when you press a button or whatever anyway, so they are definitely more for boasting on paper than actual usage.

Conveniently, the Merc AMG 4 door thingy has just been shown off.. makes V8 noise and vibrates your seat in a convincing* manner, fake gears (that apparently AP has been quoted as saying work better than he thought they would - next GT car to have similar!? ) Weird front but back is better than last

ETA - https://www.evo.co.uk/mercedes/amg-gt/2 ... che-taycan


*realworldexperiencemaydiffer

That's nice - they've made a Mercedes version of a Smart 1

I voted 2 but for me on a sporty EV it’s the only positive. They’re heavier, have no soul, make no nice noises, don’t feel like a special occasion. At least they’re fast. That’s it.
Also you have to realise that EVs make have an almost inverse power curve compared to ICE. So if you want a EV to be fast at high speed you need ridiculous power. The Taycan Turbo S with it’s huge power looks pretty amateurish at higher motor speeds
Here is a torque curve for a standard one compared with a mapped one


Flick through the image on the link and you can see the power and torque curve
https://www.mapev.net/porsche-taycan-turbo-s/

Regardless of propulsion I'm going to enjoy a <1200kg car a lot more than one with double the mass and five times the power.

Mito Man wrote: Wed May 20, 2026 12:12 pm Also you have to realise that EVs make have an almost inverse power curve compared to ICE. So if you want a EV to be fast at high speed you need ridiculous power. The Taycan Turbo S with it’s huge power looks pretty amateurish at higher motor speeds
Here is a torque curve for a standard one compared with a mapped one

Which is also why gears don't work well with them..... gear them to suit your desired vmax and they already provide more grunt/acceleration lower down the speed range like ICE do with lower gears.

Also : FFS - first using "turbo" as a moniker for the fastest EV in the range, and now citing "mapped" for drawing even more powahs.
<shakes head>

IanF wrote: Wed May 20, 2026 11:25 am Conveniently, the Merc AMG 4 door thingy has just been shown off.. makes V8 noise and vibrates your seat in a convincing* manner, fake gears (that apparently AP has been quoted as saying work better than he thought they would - next GT car to have similar!? )

Just when you thought the soundkreator things were the most tragic things ever.

To come - fake exhaust fumes. Smell of petrol fuel through the air intakes as you accelerate hard. etc etc

Program in some misfires? Give the owner something to complain about.

This is equally tragic but our lovely neighbours across the pond like to remove the rear bench seat on Teslas because you can hear the motor whine.
Then again maybe it’s less tragic as it’s not a synthetic noise…

I got to have a go in an Ionic 5n on a PalmerSport event last Friday. They have a fleet of them for clients to use as warm up laps to learn the track.

The Instructors seem to really enjoy using them and I can see why, bloody good fun. Okay not as fun as the F3000 cars, but I doubt much else would be

I'm sure there's some good ones, but I just can't get excited about them no matter how much power they have. Must just be getting old.

DeskJockey wrote: Wed May 20, 2026 11:02 am I fail to see the point of chasing the bigger numbers. I'd be more impressed if they focused on improving the range/efficiency and made a fuss about that.

This is where I'm at. Seems to be very little in the way of new thinking, just "chuck a bigger battery in it".

Not sure which option that is though.

duncs500 wrote: Wed May 20, 2026 2:55 pm I'm sure there's some good ones, but I just can't get excited about them no matter how much power they have. Must just be getting old.

Yep, this!

There's quite a few super powerful EV's out there but I have no desire for one.

When the ZR1/ZR1X was released, with similar levels of outrageous power, I felt differently about that, although it's still a completely unnecessary level of performance.

For EV's, something like a Renault 5/Twingo actually excites me more than a hypercar-level EV

I just don’t really care about driving quickly any more.

I enjoy driving my 85bhp alfasud and 140bhp compact as much as anything else. I don’t care that a modern x340i or whatever will destroy my x5.

I have little to no interest in any modern ev other than that some look alright. I can’t get excited by the performance of any of them.

I’ve never been bothered by straight line performance, I’d rather a slow car that has reasonably low limits, but moves in a favourable way, so the rear steers it, can balance it in the throttle etc.

When I think of cars that are unattainable to me, I get more sad that I can’t buy a clever little kei car with 660cc engine than any big powerful electric thing

This excites me more than a tacan ever could, and to be honest I’d rather have one, maybe breathed in to 100hp, than anything Ferrari or Lamborghini are currently putting out

Cars that keep you busy at low speed are my thing because the general pace of driving during the day is so slow and boring. Like the Defender for that, always busy changing gear or just keeping it driving in a straight line. Anything ATV or UTV based is the same. You’re just holding on for dear life at on big knobbly tyres keeping up with a Qashqai that’s doing 40 mph in a NSL

Feeling like you're going fast is better than actually going fast. Like that Honda above, or an MX5 or even a Defender. There's so much going on at low speed and it keeps you engaged.