genuinely curious, like what? I think they're even more competitive up to speeds under 60. Are you saying quarter mile is just as important? Or that acceleration itself isn't everything in "performance"?
Right, but that's not under $55k. There's no question you can get a car that will beat a TM3P at Nurburgring for more money.... The question is, can you find one for the same or less money?
Next, is it one you can comfortably pickup groceries and take the family for a road trip?
Acceleration is nice for drag racing or beating the guy next to you at a stop light. If you actually want to go to a track or just enjoy hitting some windy mountain roads, weight, handling, and braking become a lot more important.
For normal every day driving pretty much every car handles well enough. Few people are taking corners with the tires screaming (and those that are get looked down upon of being unsafe or whatever). It's acceleration that really makes a car more convenient to daily drive. When you have tons of acceleration things like taking turns into fast moving traffic or merging around that dunce who decided to come to a stop at the end of the ramp become non-issues.
a 200hp hot hatch already has more than enough power to make a quick right turn or merge into a faster lane. you don't really need more unless you're trying to race people on entrance ramps, which is a race you will eventually lose to some insane tuner no matter how much money you spend.
Part of my commute is on a ~70mph road that has a bunch of side roads dumping into it. The people who have to merge into 70mph rush hour traffic with no ramp to get up to speed would greatly benefit from the kind of acceleration a Tesla offers. The other day some guy in an exotic car (didn't see what, probably a Maserati of some sort since those are the most common exotic around here) pulled out in front of me from one of those turns and proceeded to let it sing. Had it been almost any other vehicle I would have had to tap the brakes and been quite annoyed.
The point that I was making, and that I have just introduced an example to support, is that there are practical applications for the kind of acceleration that make certain types of people clutch their pearls.
Also, a 200hp hot hatch is going to have a hell of a time putting that power to the ground. There's a reason I'm talking in terms of acceleration and not power.
that's a good example, not many situations like that near where I live.
that said, if I need to accelerate faster than my gti can handle at full throttle in 2nd/3rd gear, I will probably just wait for a bigger gap. everyone has their own tolerance for these things though; I play merges extra safe.