Personally this annoys me - people have a facination with out and out bhp/torque figures on rolling roads but thats really not the be all and end all.
If you look at Said Mazda for example - yes it is 250 bhp and has a load of torque but in sheer on raod performance, the difference between a 6.1 second car and a 7.3 second car is fairly negligable. (Driver ability, tyres, etc)
Over the years my Dad has had Cossies, Imprezas, 300zx's etc and ive been on many other faster cars than my lc 180. The only two cars that felt noticably quicker were the Impreza (STI Prodrive addtioin 305bhp) and his 300 zx (280bhp) These imo, only felt quicker due to the sheer amount of grip and ability to put the power down from a launch etc.
Personally for me its not just sheer BHP but how the car handles and puts down the power on the road.
e.g torque steer (e.g Astra VXR pulls all over the place), chasis ability when thrown about etc (Mk4 Astra GSI - take it from me - needs serious mods to handle well). (e.g a clio 182 handles the power and chasis is matched perfectly and most imprezas etc would find it hard to shake off.)
I am not one of these people who thinks the LC 180 is the fastest thing on earth, it isnt, i just think in a daily, busy, uk road environment its a lot quicker than people give it credit for.
rant over lol