[SUB-FT86]

Originally Posted by val_lixembeau

Exactly the opposite. HP is a measure of how "quickly" the torque can be applied.

Think of it this way, torque is a measure of force, but instead of measuring how hard you can push, it measures how hard you can twist.

In a straight line, you've heard that work=force*distance right? What power measures is how fast you can do that work.

Now let's translate that to circular motion...

Work is now torque applied over a certain number of revolutions. So power is torque times revolutions over time. That's why we sometimes say that power is just a number derived from torque.

Imagine two engines with the same peak power, but one with low torque and one with high torque. We'll use perfectly flat torque curves for simplicity. That would mean that the low torque engine needs to rev at higher rpm to produce the same power as the high torque engine.

In theory, these engines placed into the same car could produce identical acceleration if they were geared appropriately. The low torque engine would just need to rev higher. The problem is, people don't like to rev their engines, and manufacturers don't like to gear that way because of cost, mileage and reliability.

And that's why most people think of torque numbers as being responsible for the acceleration that you feel. Because low torque engines aren't geared low enough to produce the same acceleration as high torque engines, and even if they were they might not be able to rev high enough to take advantage of that gearing.

I feel very much like this. I always feel when I high rev a 4banger that the car is in so much pain that something will break and I would be SOL. I hope the FR-S doesn't feel this way but I wonder if flat 4 engines feel buttery smooth like a V8 or I6?