It's sort of funny to write this post as I sit in anticipation of picking up a car next month that probably has more power than anything else I've ever owned. But it's just about warm enough to start driving the 220D regularly again (I was too lazy to do the glow plugs over the winter) and I'm pretty happy about that too.
People today have a weird perspective about horsepower. I've met people who think cars that have less than 200HP are "unsafe". We exist in a perpetual dick measuring contest of "haha bigger number good" frequently without any regard for anything else. I've had someone straight faced try to argue the Cobalt SS is a better car than the S2000 because it made more power. And in some ways it does make sense why people would feel that way. Americans tend to drive very erratically. You're punished less for making abrupt stops and turns when you can accelerate on a whim. Merge onto the highway going 30mph and then mash the throttle at random? Sure, go for it!
Driving something objectively slow requires some situational awareness and forward planning. You have to judge distances effectively and try to actively avoid situations where you might have to slam on your brakes. It'll do freeway speeds, it just takes a while to get there. Sometimes there's nothing you can do and you end up getting cut off and stuck going up a hill at 30mph until you can get to a point you can actually accelerate again. But I guess that's part of the fun.
I've driven this car from Seattle to Minnesota and back, and it was my daily driver for several months last year. I've put thousands of miles on this thing and I'm looking forward to thousands more.