I can attest to having driven several cars at several HP ratings on the autobahn and felt terrified in cars that spent 13-15 seconds getting up to 100kph let alone the kinds of speeds most of the traffic was going. It wasn't until I picked up an Audi A3 that felt even remotely safe in day-to-day autobahn driving. At least Germans tend to drive better than Americans on those kinds of roads and do a good job of maintaining the appropriate lane for traffic going their speed. But still, top end of 60HP on the autobahn? shudder
edit: For reference, here's a 60HP Peugeot with the engine absolutely pegged on the Autobahn doing about 160kph (about 100mph) and getting passed like it's standing still a couple of times.
Granted though that many people (myself included) have/had a car with more power than they really need, although I am not convinced that it's so wrong to want to enjoy the act of driving a bit.
Also, I live in a very mountainous part of the world (Washington), and I fear that a 60hp sedan that can actually hold 4 or 5 adults would have a great deal of difficulty climbing some of the hills in Seattle; and if not in Seattle, than over in the mountains where I like to snowboard.
In short, the extra power can provide you with extra options so you can be safer; and is sometimes required in the more ... aggressive hills that can be found in some parts of the world.
And yes, you can claim that you can climb the hills in Seattle, but wearing your engine at 6000rpms just so that you can have all 60 of your alleged horses (actual horses degrade over time) damages the engine; whereas for my car to have 60 horses (Saturn Ion), it's probably something like 3500 rpm.... muuuch better on the engine so it lasts longer, fewer repair costs, etc.
I wonder whether there are any statistics about accidents prevented by quick acceleration. Somehow I have the feeling that the average driver won't be able to make use of their cars abilities in these split-second decisions.
With regard to overtaking in difficult situations, my driving instructor taught me not to do that. If you can't safely overtake you'll have to wait a bit until you can. But I see how a more powerful engines would make more situations safe for overtaking.
Max speed of 62mph... ... just ... wow. What's the fuel economy at that speed? My car gets mid 30mph around 70.
Most importantly, it's fun.
Q. Can someone please explain to me why people need 150HP engines unless they're pulling a trailer?
A. Because they don't live in a fascist state
Rather than say we are slaves except for those things we are permitted to do (and those permitted things need justification), we should be free except for those things we are not permitted to do (and those proscribed things need justification).
I think an oppressive state is the only reasonable implementation of the former. So, with only a small amount of hyperbole, I invoked fascism as the assumption behind the question :)
(And I mean this at least partly seriously. The path to fascism is paved with perfectly good intentions, much like this one - presumably to reduce road fatalities.)
You must drive alone. But a lot of people have families, and when you fit them in, plus groceries (or luggage), you need more than 60hp.
Plus with 60hp I'd probably never be able to leave the house, since in order to merge I have to accelerate quite fast, since (during the day) it's rare to get much of a gap in the traffic. (To make it worse, due to parked cards, the other cars aren't able to see me try to merge, and I can barely see them. So when I sense a gap I hit the gas to avoid getting hit from behind.)
A 870 kg Citroen C1 with 50 kw power accelerates fast enough for German autobahn traffic and Austrian alps.
All of that said, how many people are you carrying in your Citroen?
Smart is to use car sharing. A van when you need it otherwise a Citroen C1.