WARP drive is faster when the plot needs it, slow as fuck when it doesn't.
Exactly, every technology in Star Trek is a Plot Device. Every problem is written from the start to be solved (In 40 minutes or less) by technobabble. The "Aliens" started out Ethnic Stereotypes, and through later series, the Exploration became a central theme of cross-cultural interactions.
Then again, Star Wars is a Fairy Tale, an most of the technology (Pretty much anything outside of the Light Saber) has no explanation at all. They're not "Shields," they're "Deflector Screens." Only in Star Trek, they at least make something up to work the shield strength into the plot. There's a power source. Yeah, it's bullshit "Dilithium Crystals" but at least there's a reactor onboard. They can run out of power, when has anything in Star Wars even run low on energy?
What is the Millenium Falcon run on? Fuel? A cosmic cube? Leprechaun tears? We don't know, but this always bothered me. The Owen farm had a Speeder that's just parked a couple feet off the ground. Any exterior shot on Tattoine, where there's a speeder in the background, they never touch the ground. How the fuck does that work? Do they just have permanent magnets in the base, and there's an unmentioned superconductor right under the surface that makes 24/7 levitation without an energy source possible?
I have to laugh whenever Star Wars fans point out how Star Trek is "Unrealistic." Okay, but the Force, that's believeable. Uh huh?
Plot devices exist to tell a story, as long as you don't overthink it.