I think you may have answered your own question; if your highest priority is outright power to compete against others, then you are probably looking at the wrong car. Personally, I'd look at the maximum kw/bhp as only one very small part of the buying equation.
It's probably pretty frustrating for engine designers trying to design an engine to meet all the emmission and noise regs and give it really nice power characteristcs when they know that all many customers may be looking for is maximum kw/bhp. It's probably a lot better to completely ignore the kw/bhp figure and drive the cars you fancy and see which you prefer driving.
Tigger. |