though you might want to try my way first before deciding
If you were to go back through some of my older posts, you'd find that for the first 9 months or so of playing this game I thought as you do now and like you I mostly got away with it all the time (I flew a Cobra, then an Asp so generally 4 pips to engines worked). And in fact argued as you are doing now. It was when I started doing videos for new players in slower trade ships and took advice from more experienced members of the forums, then tested those statements with proper testing that I realised I was wrong. Your experience in a Cutter is not actually very representitive of early game play with D rated thrusters and what you're saying is really simply what works for you in your ship.