Originally Posted by Patrick

Sorry for being a pain, but I couldn't help it.
The Ariel Atom has a Honda Civic Type R engine in it and the faster version is supercharged, but yes the Honda engines rev pretty high.
Most Ferrari engines make most of there horsepower and torque at high rpm so I'd say the xl's are a bit more like a big V8 chev or something.
I know what your saying about the HVMaxx compared to xl's and other low kv high torque motors and I kind of agree. But also the e-maxx isn't a light car, you can put a V8 in a big pick up truck, but you wouldn't put the honda civic engine in it. For reliability and fuel economy heavy vehicles usually use big engines with torque rather than small engines with rpm.
Personally I like my 1700kv neu 1515, but I'm not trying to say the novak's aren't that good, because I haven't seen them run. If you get it running so your happy with it then that's what's important.