the bonito is 90% Toro Nero. The toro/bonito has a soft bottom as compared to some engines, however i think that with some clutch and gearing adjustments, you can make up for it. I have a Toro Nero Team that is modded by Mark at PowerHouse RC Performance. He told me the things he changes on the Toro/Bonito make the bottom end a lot stronger without sacrificing its awesome top end.

I run an Ascendancy 4 shoe clutch. I figured with a stock Toro/Bonito i would need stiffer clutch springs along with the alum shoes and go down a tooth on clutchbell or maybe leave it alone @ a 13. With my modded one I'm running 4 .9s with the alum shoes and a 14T clutchbell. I have no complaints about grunt with a modded one, so maybe keep that in mind if you have the cash.

Otherwise as far as stock Novarossi engines go, the P5XLT is a stump puller, and much cheaper than the Bonito, just doesn't quite have the top-end.

What I've found is you really need to buy an engine that suits the tracks you race on. If you run on really big, wide flowing tracks, a stock Bonito will be fine since the low-end grunt isn't as necessary. If you run on shorter, tight tracks, something like the P5XLT will be beneficial.

I love my PowerHouse Toro Nero Team, but the track i race on regularly has no big straightaways and a lot of tight corners, so i cant use the engine to its potential, as i never use full throttle. The only advantage it has over the P5XLT i have is a bit of runtime.

My setups, both engines modded by PowerHouse:

Toro Nero Team
7mm restrictor
Ascendancy clutch, alum flywheel
(4) .9 springs, alum shoes
9901SS/41020 header
~10 min runtimes average

P5XLT
6.5mm restrictor
Werks Pro "Light" clutch
(2) .9s (2) 1.0s, alum shoes
2084SS/41021 header
~9.5 min runtimes average