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Is 400 horsepower a lot?

I’ve been casually browsing around looking at different cars, and I keep seeing different horsepower numbers pop up. I’ll admit I don’t know much about horsepower. Is 400 horsepower a lot?

avatar
Michelle Ballestrasse · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
Hey, not a lot of people bother to look at horsepower when it comes to cars, especially people just looking for family
sedans and SUVs
. They’re more concerned about comfort, cargo space, and miles per gallon. Horsepower is usually the last thing on people’s minds.
But for car enthusiasts looking for power and acceleration, horsepower is one of the magic numbers. Whether 400 hp is a lot depends entirely on the type of car. For a supercar, it isn’t much, but for a family sedan, it’s more than you’d need.
However, for sports and luxury cars, 400 is a solid amount. Because horsepower is simply a unit of measurement for an engine’s power output, there are other factors that can determine whether it’s sufficient, such as the weight of the car, the brake horsepower (which is a separate number!), and
torque
.
If you’ve got a sports or luxury car, you hit the sweet spot if it has at least 400 horsepower. And if you’ve got the
Jerry
app, you’ve hit the jackpot when it comes to saving on your car insurance rates!
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