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Originally Posted by Neutral_Eyes
I think he's just disappointed with the FT-86's projected power figures without taking into acount (or ignoring) the weight and/or its driving dynamics. My Miata has only 115whp, but it's still a lot more fun, and IMO rewarding to drive, than a new Mustang V6. While it certainly isn't as fast, it definitely feels that way. It's difficult to put a number or figure to. This car doesn't need oodles of power to be relevant or competitive at a $27k price point.
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Driving dynamics are certainly more fun on twisty roads than gobs of power that you can't fully utilize. Bragging about HP figures is mostly for people who enjoy drag racing. But for most of the other forms of performance driving that don't involve going in a straight line, people forget about all the secondary stresses that come with more power. A high horsepower car is generally heavier (unless you have the kind of money for a carbon fiber super car, but if that's the case, why look at the FR-S at all?) due to bigger engines and all the other stuff that comes with it to up the power- turbos, superchargers, bigger radiators. These all add weight. And the faster you go, with all that additional weight, the harder the brakes and tires have to work to slow you down again. This stresses these components more than on a lighter car that's probably not going quite as fast. This additional stress wears the parts out faster, so you're more likely to see brake fade setting in sooner on something like a Mustang than on a Miata.