torque does'nt win races. Trust me i had a Tdi Ibiza with 330lb/ft torque. it was quick on the go, however with a shorter power band it needed good use of the gearbox to make swift progress.
Always remember it like this. BHp is how much it will do and Torque is how quick it does it.
Therefore if you have a High Bhp and low torque then it means you will do a lot but will take a long time to do.
the other way round you have high torque but low bhp, means it will not do so much but it will do it a lot more quickly ( therefor why diesels will feel faster than the BHP figures indicate.
The best car is where the Torque figure is quite close to the BHp figure. Which is a reason why a petrol Turbo is one of the best allround car as torque and BHp are usally balanced, such as on a tuned K-o3s 1.8t car which would show 230bhp and say 240 lbft torque.
but you are right you do need to know the torque as well as the BHp to make a good comparison. |