- What's more important - Power or Torque?
We call it area under the graph. Now, what that means is, if you have a power line going up to 200KW or 300KW, and a torque line that's, lets say, 500NM of torque, if you can increase the area under that torque graph, then generally, you will have increased in power.
Now, what that means is. If I can bring that torque line up from 500NM to 600NM, and not necessarily have an increase in power, that car is going to feel like a different car on the road, as it will have more pulling power at lower RPM, even though the actual peak power number is no greater than it was before the torque in the lower RPMs was increased.
So, in my eyes, I believe torque is more important than power.
There are people who like to see a high power number. They like to see the big figures. That's great, but, to drive them at that top-end, at maximum RPM, at wide open throttle, the car is never going to get there on the road.
So, torque is more applicable to 99% of people on the road.
On a racetrack, torque is very important too, because when you are going into a corner and out of a corner, torque is the thing that actually gives you the pull. So torque is going to pull you out of the corner faster.
If you ask me what's more important, power or torque. I would say to you, torque would be more important than power.
Having said that, you can't have a power figure without a torque figure, so, if you increase the torque an engine is producing, you will have an increase in power in those same RPM areas.
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