Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 17:02:21 -0800 From: "Neil" <hughaminopsamam.yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Torque and Power
Here is a great article that explains torque versus horsepower: http://www.autospeed.com/A_0744/page1.html "H." <musicboxnopsamrider.co.uk> wrote in message news:43hr1u0s1dnkrk4n7pql3nl5vtoharn2h1nopsamcom... > Curious Pete, > > In a nutshell, bhp gets you off the line quickly, whilst torque helps > you progress more quickly from there. Now just let me elucidate a > little before I get flamed for such an oversimplification! > > In essence, thinking of real-world driving, the more bhp, the quicker > your o-60 straight line time is. But put a pile of people in the car, > or decellerate to turn a corner, and you're stuffed! With a decent > torque figure, the car will haul itself along far more readily - thus > you don't have to change down so often to get the speed back on the > car - usually you will find cars with higher torque figures are > quicker 50-70mph that their less-torque-more-bhp cousins. This makes > them far more relaxing to drive - you're not having to change gear > every five minutes just to keep going, and for overtaking, more often > than not all it needs is a squeeze on the go pedal, and you're off! > > One classic and rather embaressing example of this is the Saab Viggen > (ignoring all it's other failings) - when the Viggen came out, with > only 230bhp it could out accellerate a Porsche 50-70..... all thanks > to it's huge mound of torque. The BMW 530 and 330, using their new > Diesel engine, manage to post ridiculously quick 0-60 for an average > diesel, once again helped by the fact that while they dont have too > much bhp, they have plenty of torque. > > So to sum up, the more torque, the beter for easier, faster driving, > and moreover, the lower that torque is in the rev range, the better. - > in most Saab's for example, maximum torque is somewhere between > 1900-3600 revs - fairly low down, rather like diesels. When you see a > car with maximum torque quoted up somewhere like 6000-7000 revs, then > you can start to panic - that car is may be quick, but it is going to > have to be thrashed to get it to do so - low down torque makes for > effortless progress.......... > > Hope this satisfies your curiosity, > > Helpful H. > >
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
