Ive had my 172 now for close on 2 years but living on the highveld (1500m above sealevel) the car has only made 145bhp/127ft.lb @ flywheel (120bhp/105ft.lb @ wheels) so while the car has been nippy, its never really been what I keep hearing about from you guys.
Drove down to the coast for a long weekend, filled the car up with some decent octane fuel, unpacked all the luggage into the apartment and went for a bit of a drive along the coast (150km).
OMG!!!!!
The experience of 172 genuine horses under the bonnet was wonderful!!!
Could keep the car in 4th gear, put my foot down at 1500rpm and the car would just pull like a train...even up some pretty steep inclines.
Up here at home Id have to be in 3rd, maybe 2nd to achieve the same sort of pulling power.