Date: Wed, 10 Feb 1999 22:39:57 GMT From: bulwnklnopsambee_emm.net (Eoin) Subject: Re: SAAB 9-5 or Charysler 300M ?
I agree with all of that, except the thing about torque vs hp. Remember that torque and power are related, but that power is the thing that moves the vehicle down the road (field? path? rocks?). Torque can be freely exchanged for speed (meaning that the output shaft of a transmission can be spinning at a given speed and have a certain amount of torque available, or spinning much slower with higher torque, but the power is the same). So the torque curves of 2 different powerplants are meaningful only in that they can be translated into power curves which will then allow a meaningful comparison between the two. --Eoin On 10 Feb 1999 14:23:34 -0700, klaus <klausnopsamsion.xmission.com> wrote: >In alt.autos.saab Richard J Hutchinson <richard.hutchinsonnopsamcom> wrote: >> Oooh I'll just hop in my car and jet over to Montana :-) > >Bad idea. Cold, windy, and nothin' but sky. > >> Seriously, these are exceptions for the vast majority. It doesn't >> really qualify as real world driving the way handling does >> (dodging stray animals, kiddies or morons in other vehicles) or >> acceleration (merging into traffic). > >Agreed, but it's also silly to consider 0 to 60 times. 40 to 80 is >more "real world". > >> Top speed is a marketing item; much like HP is marketed over >> torque. Although HP is certainly a more important number than top speed. > >Yup. And I'd say HP is meaningless for 4x4 (if they're used off road >anyway). Torque and the shape of the torque speed curve is much more >important. > >Frankly, I just buy a car based on the babe factor. > >-klaus > >