I have to agree with those who see a balance between the fun of working or tuning and the joy of riding. Nevertheless, there are limits to tuning, depending on the car and engine. If there weren't just a handful of 4/4s with 2 litres, but if this option had always been offered as an alternative to the 1.6, I would have saved myself all the tuning and had even better torque from the basement onwards. As long as we're talking about naturally aspirated engines, two litres is just two litres. On the other hand, I have learnt a lot about my engine, and if I had a two-litre, I would probably have caught the tinkering virus too.
To George's point, I believe that the Duratec 2.0 and Sigma 1.6 were the last engine generations where tuning was still fun and noticeable. These very modern engines are only tuned up by software. Of course, this assumes that weaker variants are simply digitally derated, but have more mechanical potential from the outset. At the end of the day, it's a great hobby either way and I personally like the slightly older generation of NA engines without direct injection and without delayed boost much more.
