jmtandem wrote:
They prefer the lower rpm to increase duty cycle. So to have the same hp at a lower rpm will equate to higher torque. Not necessarily that they are targeting the higher torque.
Their advertising absolutely targets higher torque. It is a torque war, much more than a HP war between the big three. And amazingly there is no 'duty cycle' war among the light diesel trucks. The advertising one upmanship war is really all about how much the truck can tow; and all three bring it back to torque values. In the days of the Cummins 5.9 and now 6.7 in the Rams, the early ones had 400 foot pounds of torque; today that is 865 with the Aisin MDT transmission. We may soon see Ford or GM up the ante with 900 foot pounds.
The new ram 6.4 gas engine has about 400 HP and 429 foot pounds torque. It does not pull hills towing 10,000-12,000 pounds like the diesel even though it has about the same HP. At that weight the 6.4 is close to it's max tow rating (depending on rear end ratios), the diesel not even halfway to it's max rating. There is lots more to all this than HP.
So it is the advertising department that drives the engineering and technology? Or maybe it is the advertising department's role to manipulate public perception to generate sales.
