To be picky about this analogy, top speed in a car is an attribute that bears little on everyday utility. In fact, past the 110km/h here in Australia for instance, the only place you can enjoy the extra speed in on a track. %99.999+ of people won't be able to take advantage of anything for entire life of their vehicle.
On the contrary, instant acceleration is something every driver takes advantage of numerous times per day, when changing lanes, correcting for others mistakes, etc. Fuel cost savings and low maintenance saves every driver money. These are the attributes to pay attention to in a car in general, not the top speed.
Point is to pay attention to characteristics which are of utility towards the use case. Obviously, if you are getting a car to go as fast as you possible can on a track, you want a car with higher max speeds so there is that.