I honestly dont feel i could ever be happy driving an 80 hp 1700lb car.
Just a matter of what you're used to. Note, I didn't say it was a fast car - or at least I didn't mean it.
What I meant was that for a modern car of that power, or more importantly of that gas mileage, it is much faser than what one would expect.
e.g. other cars that remotely approach 75mpg (more like 55) will develop ~50hp and will be painfuly, aggravatingly slow.
Example, the Opel Corsa of a friend, tin can as you say, 1200cc 8 valve engine, ~45hp. Hits 60 in 18 seconds. You have to change gear down a gear each time the wind changes direction, and forget overtaking. I would estimate that does 50mpg, but less in real life since you have to keep thrashing it in low gear to actually be an alternative to walking.
On the other hand, the Clio dCi with 80hp isn't exactly fast, but overtakes faster than any other car I have driven or been in of its size/weight that has less than 100hp let alone does 75mpg. For me, a car with a 0-60 time of 12 seconds isn't slow enough to be annoying to drive. And this particular car isn't a tin can either, perhaps its size, but inside it is very refined, no tin can flimsy built feeling, doors close with a thud, but not a diesel-like NVH that many other diesels and small cars of the past had.
The ones I drove were fitted with low profile rubber and sports suspension package from the factory so the ride wasn't very comfy, but corners better than your Trans-Am I would suspect
