Which is better" Here?s how you quash that bar-night debate.
Yogi Berra, never known to dwell on engine particulars, would have concluded that torque and horsepower are the same thing, only different. Actually, that simplification is partially correct.
Torque and power are what engines produce when you turn the key and press the accelerator. Air and fuel ignited in the combustion chambers cause the crankshaft, transmission, and drive axles to do the twist. This is the miracle of energy conversion: the potential energy contained in a gallon of recycled dinosaur efficiently changed to the kinetic energy needed for driving.
Digging deeper, consider these textbook definitions:
Energy is the capacity for doing work. In this instance, engines perform the drudgery (work) formerly done by horses. Work is the result of a force acting over some distance. The U.S. measurement unit for work (and also energy) is foot-pounds. In the International System (SI), work is measured in joules and, in rare instances, newton-meters.
Torque is a rotating force produced by an engine?s crankshaft. The more torque an engine produces, the greater its ability to perform work. The measurement is the same as work, but slightly different. Since torque is a vector (acting in a certain direction), it?s quantified by the units pound-feet and newton-meters.
Of course, there?s always an exception. In this case the distinction is static torque, the kind you apply with a wrench to tighten head bolts. To av...