You choose - loaded gas or basic diesel?

4x4ord wrote:
Horsepower is horsepower. When talking engines ... torque is horsepower as well. An engine cannot produce torque without running. When it is running and producing torque there you have all three; torque, rpm and horsepower. When we talk about an engines torque rating we are referring to the maximum torque the engine makes and it is specified at an rpm ... Torque @ rpm is equal to power. The manufactures give torque rating @ an rpm and further define the powerband of their engine by providing the max HP @ a certain rpm. Together this information forms a power graph in an understanding persons mind and they will have a very good idea of it pulling characteristics, especially if they consider the gear ratios of transmission along with the final drive ratio and tire size all together. Many people have the misconception that diesels produce more torque than gasoline engines. In fact the opposite is true. Torque and therefore horsepower come from the fuel. Gasoline requires less air per unit of energy than does diesel to burn therefore more torque and power can be achieved per liter of engine displacement with the gasoline engine. Diesel lend themselves very nicely to turbocharging, which, in a way, increases the displacement of the engine and therefore allows for much more fuel per rev to be injected. This increased fuel per rev increases the torque of the engine. With the new technology available gasoline engines with direct injection can also be easily supercharged. If you talk turbocharged gasoline vs turbocharged diesel the gasoline engine will make more torque per engine displacement than will the diesel. And if you talk naturally aspirated diesel vs naturally aspirated gasoline engines the gasoline engine produces much more torque again. It is the turbo that is responsible for the high torque output of modern diesels.

Wow, well said. Very informative. My whole point in this thread was to explain the implications of varying the torque and HP curves of any given engine design. How these changes effect realworld driveability. Some folks here seem to ignore these implications or simply don't understand it. Simply saying horsepower is the ultimate panacea for every power issue is not a very convincing argument in my book. Again, 4x4ord, thanks for the excellent post!