Horsepower going up.. torque falling down

[fuzion]

Anyone else notice this?

I'm not trying to rag on companies here, but its the obvious truth.. imported cars (cept nissan/infiniti muhahhaha, beamer.. benz..vw.. audi.. anyways)

ok so Honda and Toyota, they've got some nice cars (minus the new pilot suv from Honda) - It just seems like they are finding ways to make more horsepower without thought for the torque

Example:

Toyota Celica/Corolla/Matrix - Same engine, the highest models (Matrix XRS & Celica GT-S) have some 180 hp or so, but around 150 torque in a 6 speed.. got a friend who works @ Toyota and I'm lucky enough to drive whatever I want, the Matrix is dog slow, its an interesting concept, but it doesnt really get up and go..

Acura RSX, 2.0liter, 200 hp.. less torque.. they are making engines itty-bitty and pullin this enormous impressive horsepower out that excites alot of people.. they don't realize it isn't gonna be as thrilling with out some torque

The purpose of this thread? None. I only have 16 posts .. 17 now

BTW - the NEW NEW 4 Runner, avail w/ a V8.. is fricking awesome, it hauls azz, really well designed and has real surround sound, all kinds of stuff.. its spiffy as hell, The prev. V6 4runner didn't impress me but damn.. New V8 is awesome

Domestic cars don't seem to be as low on the torque side, Neon SRT-4/Chrysler PT GT Cruiser share the same engine and it gets turbo'd to 220 hp and equal torque.. The new hemi they put in the Heavy Duty (375hp/torque [around there]!) ram is supposed to sneak into some Cherokees, 300M's and other cars.. would be pretty cool

Anywho.. Useless? Yes.Informative? Not reallyBored out of my mind? Of Course!

[pharcyd]

ya i agree that they dont have much for torque but when the variable timing kicks in (in the gts anyways wouldnt know with the matrix) they dont do bad

[PalmerWMD]

There is a lot of thruth to this.One can adjust engines "powerpeaks" to read all sorts of of hp.

A good rule of thump is, a well balanced motor will have roughly as much torque in lb-ft than hp.If you ahve an engine with 250hp but only 190lb you know the 250hp would mislead most PPL that this is a "very strong" engine, when it is merely "strong"

Fred...

[Good240]

It's been a rule of thumb with all the people I know that You're as quick as your lowest torque of horsepower figure. If you got an engine with 525 pounds of torque but only 300 HP like a 500 Cu.In Eldorado It's only a very honest 300 HP car. IF you got 160 peak HP but only 111 Ft.LBS of torque then what you have is a very meager and gutless 160HP car(compared to cars of similar weight and equal 160 HP and torque figures). I havn't been to thrilled with Variable vavle timing because it gets a little too much praise.

KA life is good in the way that it's hard to dyno with less torque than HP and both numbers run almost overlapping of each other.

[PabloHoney]

Hmm....variable valve timing not thrilling you?!? Ok, so Honda engines don't have much torque, everyone knows this. The VTEC lobes on a B16 have the duration, lift, and overlap that are very very similar to that of a full RACE cam. Torque is fun, but if you don't have any horsepower, what are you left with.....a diesel engine. High revving engines rev high to get horsepower, duh. Personally, I would take a high-revving engine with less torque, like the RB25DET. Are you guys also saying that the RB25 isn't a good engine because it makes 217 lb-ft of torque, but 250 hp?! The RB26DETT makes 289 lb-ft at 4400 rpm. Now, they SAY it only makes 280 hp (any idiot knows that's a lie), it really makes 328 hp or so. So is that engine also only "strong" And what about the NSX C32 engine with 224 lb-ft and 290 hp. This is how engines SHOULD be built. This is how Japanese car makers have been doing it for years. Why make a gas-hungry, low-revving push-rod V-8 when you can make a 4-cylinder do that same thing for cheaper (obviously I am talking from an economical stand-point here). Like I said before, torque is nice, but horsepower gets you places.

Cars that have higher horsepower than torque simply hold their "meager" torque at a higher rpm, which lets you utilize shorter gears to multiply this torque and therefore be faster.