Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

mine doesn't qualify as a gas guzzler - only 495 hp - EPA-rated fuel economy of 16 MPG city, 25 MPG highway, and 19 MPG combined

Ha!  Do you ever see 16 in the city?

My son's ecoboost Mustang factory published numbers claim 22 in the city and 33 highway.

The absolute best I've managed, driving VERY smooth and eco-friendly, is 18 in the city.  And that's just super-unrealistic, like, accelerating so slowly from a stoplight that I'm getting passed by cars that were 10 or 12 deep behind me at the light.  Lifting and coasting to a stoplight that's still 2 blocks away.  That kind of thing.

I chuckle when someone goes flying by me when we both can see a red light 300 yards ahead.  Then they slam on their brakes as I coast along, sometimes I pass them as they light turns green and I'm in a better lane and am already at some speed.

The hybrid gets better mpgs around town than on the highway.  It gets even better in the mountains, it's a bit odd.  The EPA rating highway is 37 which is ... optimistic and then some.  It's very speed dependent, maybe at 60 it might see 37, maybe.  Driving around 80 intracity it gets around 28 mpg.  I've seen over 40 in the mountains.

Stepping on the loud pedal in a C8 in tour mode would still get going pretty fast.  

The GTI would bog down if I accelerated hard in normal mode, I'd have to put it in sport to avoid that, the tires would chirp a bit in sport.  The Tucson has ECO, Smart (whatever that means it doesn't seem to matter), Sport, and Snow.  I just leave it in ECO unless I'm experimenting.  I'm fine with its acceleration abilities.  They aren't great, they are adequate, and I'm old.

Lee Iacocca was the man with the plan.

I loved my 1986 Chrysler Laser XT Turbo.  Slow and clunky by today's standards, but pretty quick at the time.

I test drove a small Buick turbo back in the day, manual transmission, Skyhawk?  It had bad turbo lag, and then suddenly whoosh.

The turbos today are pretty awesome.  Did you know a 4 cylinder Mustang these days has 315 hp?

Lee Iacocca was the man with the plan.

I loved my 1986 Chrysler Laser XT Turbo.  Slow and clunky by today's standards, but pretty quick at the time.

I had a Plymouth Sundance Turbo. Pretty damn fast for the day.

I think the Tucson has pretty mediocre aerodynamics, and it's "only" a 6 speed with AWD and weighs over 3800 pounds.  I had read before we got it the highway mileage wasn't great.

And this is a "small" SUV.

I test drove a small Buick turbo back in the day, manual transmission, Skyhawk?  It had bad turbo lag, and then suddenly whoosh.

The turbos today are pretty awesome.  Did you know a 4 cylinder Mustang these days has 315 hp?

Personally I care less about peak HP than I do about the torque curve. If you have to be constantly revving it high up to keep in the powerband, that's fine for a racecar, but boring when it comes to around-town driving. Variable valve timing designs can increase peak HP--my 2014 Flex has 285 hp--but if you have to be north of 5000 RPM to feel it, it's kinda useless in a typical passenger car. 

Low end torque is more important because it's where most of our daily driving occurs. 

Which of course is one area where turbo engines excel...