Grunt

In Australia, a car with lots of low end power is said to have "grunt".

For example, the taxi we just took from Sydney airport demonstrated enormous acceleration from 0 to about 20 KPH swiftly followed by a demonstration of heavy braking. This was repeated for the whole journey through heavy traffic to the CBD. This was grunt in action. It made me feel quite ill.

London black cabs have fairly small diesel engines which accelerate the cabs quite well, but compared to the Sydney cabs the acceleration is pathetic ... but, the passenger experience in a London cab is much smoother because the driver must nurse the momentum of the cab, so no violent acceleration and less heavy braking. Less scary too.

It also helps that London cabbies almost always know the way