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Which car has the most torque for the least money?


Colin

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As you may know, I do a calculation to determine which subwoofer has the most 20Hz output for the money. When it comes to automobiles, which sporty car, sedan, pick-up, van or SUV has the most torque for the least money? Does this apply to motorcycles also?

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There are a lot of other factors to consider besides torque unless you are planning to straightline race the thing.

An example - my old Typhoon produced 365ft/lbs out of a 4.3L V6... in a Blazer truck at that (so yes, it was cheap). Available in automatic trans only - it would give even a Corvette LT1 a run for it's money, and blow most "sports cars" of the day right out of the pond. However - even with the full time All Wheel Drive - it would get completely smoked in anything remotely resembling a slalom vs. those same cars.

The same applies for motorcycles... the Suzuki Hyabusa and the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-14 are the HP/Tq kings right now... which again - is great for straightline.... but what good is all the power if you can't do anything with it other than going in a straight line? A ZX7 would dust a ZX14 or Busa anywhere with hard corners, and as it seems right now - the CBR1000RR and the ZX10 seem to be the best balance between hp&tq and manueverability.

Too many factors to consider in motorsports, really... A sub only has to hit hard, go deep and do so tightly. A vehicle has to do a whole lot more.

*shrug* $.02

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Ya want a torque demonstration? Take any of the new american diesel pickups, GM, Ford or Dodge. Select 4 wheel drive, hold the brake and run the engine RPM up to about 1700. Hold that RPM for a few seconds while the turbo spools up, then release the brake. Then you see what the 600+ ft. lb. of torque feels like.

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Yup - agreed

For a 4 wheeled job I'm gonna guess, and that's all it is - an F-250 diesel. 650 ft pounds for about 30 grand. Similar for all the RAM/GMC trucks really. A car would need 325 ft pounds at 15 grand to compete. Most 15 grand cars are 150 - 180. Can't think of a specialty vehicle that is 162 ft pounds for 7.5 grand or so that would match those heavy haulers on a ft pound per dollar comparison.

Maybe a tractor out there but they cost more than $7,500 I'd guess.

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New? Used? The saying goes 'there's no replacement for displacement.' So many small modern engines rev really high and have decent HP numbers but not that great TQ.

I think the 03/04 supercharged Mustang Cobras were a pretty awesome bang for the $$.

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The torquiest (?) car I" ever owned was the old V8 Landrover Discovery. No idea what the figures are for it but I rarely if ever climbed to the dizzy heights of 2000 rpm and with the low ratios engaged it was just silly.

Off road when confronted by a mountain it always felt like there were 2 options with the car:

  1. Climb over the mountain.
  2. Throw a rope around the mountain and move it out of the way.

I now drive a 4.7 litre V8 Grand Cherokee. That too has lots of torque - but nothing like the Discovery. It also happens to use almost exactly half the gas around town.

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