These Cars Have Less Than 150 HP, But They’re Still Crazy Fun To Drive
If you think you need a monster 500 BHP under the hood to have fun, you’re sadly mistaken. It’s not the raw power that matters, but how it compares to the car’s weight and ability to transfer it to the road. You can have a tractor with 2,000 BHP, but it won’t feel anything like as good as a snappy hatchback.
In this post, we’re going to look at some of the most fun cars in existence with less than 150 BHP. They don’t have massive engines, but they will still beguile you.
Mazda MX-5
The first MX-5 was a revelation. Here was a convertible that practically anyone could afford, offering bags of power and excellent cornering. It allowed average Joe to have that sports car experience and enjoy themselves in ways they never imagined.
Now Mazda has come back with the second-generation vehicle, and it’s even more capable than its predecessor. The 1.5-litre version of the car offers 132 BHP – eighteen under the threshold of 150. And while you can get more powerful versions, this is the size that most people choose when they purchase one of these babies brand new.
Fiat Panda
The Fiat Panda isn’t supposed to be a fun car. Well, that’s what the average petrolhead will tell you. But when you actually drive this thing, it takes you back to when you first learned to drive and all the fun it brought.
Fiat equips the new Panda with a 1.4-liter, 98HP engine. But, thanks to the car’s exceptionally small size and low weight, it produces plenty of acceleration. While it looks like it rides high, it floats through corners effortlessly.
Suzuki Jimmy
If you’re a car enthusiast, you probably have a soft spot for the Suzuki Jimmy. This impressive little 4×4 seems to have it all, offering drivers an inexpensive, sporty Jeep.
Let’s be upfront: this isn’t the sort of car that’s going to get you in trouble with the law and needing help from attorneys from firms like the Salwin Law Group. It’ll only do about 70 mph. But with that said, the torque on this thing is incredible. And the gear ratio means that you can hammer through the gearbox so fast, it’ll make your head spin.
As Jay Leno likes to point out, you have the most fun in a car between 40 and 100 mph, so with the Jimmy, you’re halfway there.
Ford Puma
The Ford Puma is one of the strangest cars the company ever created and never really carved out a niche for itself in the same way that the Focus did. With that said, car lovers soon discovered that it was a lot of fun to drive, even if the engine only put out 123 HP.
What made the car good? Mainly the fact that Ford really listened to its customers when designing it. The ECU tune was fabulous out of the factory, making it an excellent choice for boy racers. And it had a close manual gearbox, which made it feel more like a rally car.
