Personally: give me a manual or even a dual-clutch turbo-4 over a V-6 with a slushbox. Neither Camry nor Accord V-6 can be had with a real gearbox. Nor is the correct set of wheels driven 🙂
BTW, even a low-power turbo engine solves the mountain driving problem, since input pressure stays basically constant once the turbo is spooled. Far better than the Neanderthal solution of mo’ cylinderz, mo’ displacements, dawg.
I don’t get the “need more HP to merge” argument either. Ever seen many East Coast highways? No acceleration ramps to speak of, yet I’ve done fine with anything ranging from 70 hp up to 250 hp.