[steven96]

I dont really know what torque does for a car i just seem to think how well how stong your car is or something like horsepower is for speed. Could someone explain i know the newer cars have a lot less but the same horsepower. Thats probably because the engines are bigger. Can someone fill in the holes for me here?

Thanks
steven

 

[yo2001]

if you are driving, torque will drive you forward. You know when you get on the gas and you get push back into the seat? that's torque. HP is simply the maxmium out put of the engine. More horse faster your top speed is. If you have lot of torque, you get to the top speed quicker.

 

[John Coffey]

Force, power, torque and energy explained:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/fpte.htm

- John

 

[JR]

Great website! One of main points about torque though, is that the larger the reciprocating mass, the more torque. That's why L-series 6-cylinder motors have more than 4-cylinders. I once had an old Ford truck with a 300cu straight six. It wouldn't rev very high (no tach so don't know), but you could pull stumps out with the torque.

 

[Jeremy260Z]

Alot of diesel utes (or trucks as you call them) have minimal hp, but heaps and heaps of tourque. And this is usually configured so that max torque is at maybe 2000rpm so they have alot of power and at a low and easily obtainable rpm, as opposed to say max hp which might be at 6000rpm on an L6.

I think torque is best described as pulling power...

 

[zakaron 79zxt]

Great website for torque/hp

This one is worth bookmarking...

<a href = "http://www.vettenet.org/torquehp.html"> http://www.vettenet.org/torquehp.html</a>

It really sheds light on what each does for you and how they work together. I like to think of horsepower as an extension of torque power and a higher peak torque level is far better for performance with the right gearing.

-zakaron