Enough Horsepower?

Old Crows wrote:

PurpleHayes wrote:
Engine options on a 24' Winnebago or Itasca are the Ford V8 350, at 255 HP and the diesel 3.0 L, 188 HP engine. Any suggestions about the choices?

HP ratings are fanciful. Torque moves the world. The question then is how much torque & the duration the engine produces its highest torque. While the Ford has more its at 4500 rpm. Do you always want to drive at a gas eating 4500 RPM? OTH, the MB 3 L turbo diesel doesnt have a "peak".. It has a "mesa"... ~1200 to 4000ish rpm ... 325 ftlbs across the range. It's coupled to a nice 5 speed automatic transmission (can be manually shifted by nudging the shifter).

(Don't bypass the MB 4 cylinder twin turbo with the 7 speed....)

Our 10K+ lb View will cruise 2400 rpm @ 65ish. If you need more power you put the wood to it and open the turbo. It doesn't regularly down shift and flail the engine. It just quietly hunkers down and lays on the power.

I'd suggest taking one of each out on a longish drive and see what best suits yor needs.

While I grant you that diesel V6 is quiet and efficient, you should stick to facts and the strengths of your engine (efficiency and noise). HP and torque are related. To get HP, you take torque and multiply it by RPM, then divide by 5250. More torque? More horsepower.

The Ford V10 makes more torque at every RPM than the Sprinter V6 does. While peak torque may happen at 3250rpm, it's got more than 80% (roughly 340-ish) of this available off idle.

Is the V10 fuel efficient? Not really. Is it refined? Not so much (though it is extremely smooth due to all those cylinders spreading the torque out). My 14000lb Class C V10 with 3-4000lbs behind it moves along at ~2400rpm at 65mph as well. If I want to go faster, I put my foot to the wood and let 6.8L of displacement lay on the power just like you. Hell, on moderate grades (3-4%?) on the country roads I live off of, it'll still pull 5th at 2000rpm.