what is the difference betw torque and power?
which one is more important in accelerating

 

do you mean torque and horsepower ??

 

hp is for bragging

torque(something honda's lack) is what is gonna pull you to that line faster!!!!

 

In order to accelerate a car, you need a force (a push or a pull). The higher the force, the higher the acceleration. Torque is simply a way of applying this force.

Power is the ability to apply this force on a moving object. Lets say a car is moving at 10 mph and it's being pushed by a force of 100 lbs. In order for this to be happening, the engine MUST provide a certain amount of power, since power is the combination of speed (10 mph) and force (100lbs).

Now lets say a car is moving twice as fast....at 20 mph. In order for the same 100 lb force to be applied to it, you MUST have twice as much power. If you don't have twice as much power, then it's physically impossible to apply that same 100 lb force.

If you do have twice as much power, you could also apply a force twice as large at 10 mph. So at 10 mph you can apply 200 lbs to the car, and make it accelerate twice as fast. Basically you can have any combination, as long as the product of force x speed remains the same. In this example, force x speed = 1000.

A transmission is what determines this combination. 1st gear lets you have a lot of force but the speed will be low. Fifth gear yields a higher speed but at a much lower force. If you want, you can have 1000 lbs at 1 mph. You can even have 10000000000 lbs at .0000001 mph. If you follow through with this, you'll see that you can theoretically have any amount of force, up to infinity at 0 mph (of course no transmission would be able to take that).


An engine produces force (torque) at a certain speed (rpm). A transmission changes the values of these two things so that you end up with a driveable car.

Ultimately, if you want to accelerate quickly, you need an engine with either a lot of torque at low rpms, or not so much torque at high rpms. It doesn't really matter, as long as the product of the two is a high number. This product is power.

So in the end you need power and a good transmission, becasue if you have those you end up with the most amount of torque at the wheels at any speed.

The only reason people prefer torquier motors is because they might require less shifting, or they don't like the "noise" of high rpms. If you want a good approximation of how fast a car accelerates, all you really need to know is power to weight ratio. Torque to weight ratio will not let you accurately predict how fast a car accelerates. I think the Toyota hybrid has over 300lb-ft of torque.....


Ultimately, the main determining factor to how fast a car will accelerate is it's power and it's weight. Everything else: the chassis, tires, torque curve, transmission...everything, is simply there to make sure that as much of this power as possible goes into accelerating the car and not into making a nice smoke show.

 

Torque gets you going, horsepower keeps you there.

 

torque is the force the motor outputs, horsepower is a measure of work which is force over a given amount of time, the time is a revolution. cars with a solid torque curve increase HP throughout the rev range. this sustained accelerating force makes the car seem faster because it is pushing the car from a faster point. Conversely a torque car has a very early peak in its torque curve which soon tapers off. the high amount of torque at low speeds and revs is more initial force however it fades where you have to keep the engine in the lower rpms just to make power. this is why a 230 ftlb torque mustang and a 120ftlb torque GSR can both have 190hp.