Sounds like you’re the type of person who’d make the best of their situation, so I think you’d be happy at SLO or Irvine. Both are great schools and will provide a great undergraduate education. Berkeley is excellent but IMO prestige is of lesser importance in eng; jobs will depend almost solely on experience and interviews.
There’s a car meet somewhere in Irvine nearly every day of the week, so it’s hard to be unhappy here. The “official” car club on campus is huge, and there are even more of us enthusiasts who don’t associate with it. It may be hard to put one of your hobbies on hold for 4-5 years. I certainly wouldn’t. I am a CPP dropout who got into every UC and don’t regret choosing Irvine.