How much torque is too much?

While the Japanese were busy working on their hybrids the Germans have been busy pushing the performance envelope with the turbo diesel engines. Previously a turbo diesel would give good torque figures but this concept has gone out the door. The new age German turbo diesels easily yield more than 300Nm from their high tech diesel engines. These are from ordinary passengers cars. The high powered performance diesels now easily offer well over 600Nm to 800Nm!

This is enough twist to tow passenger planes! The incredible performance is from the clever use of new age turbo chargers to provide gearbox destroying torque. With high torque the car is able accelerate without much effort giving the impression similar to riding on a wave. This also enables the car to pull heavier weights without stressing the engine.

A simple comparison is like putting 4 adults in a Honda Civic Type R with 240hp and 200Nm climbing a hill slope and compare it with a Hyundai Elantra 2.0 CRDI with 140hp and 300Nm with the same 4 adults climbing a slope. The Hyundai will easily climb the same hill slope with less fuss compared to the Honda which will be screaming its guts out and struggle with the hill climb.

Muscle cars are known for their massive torque rather than horsepower. The high torque nature of the engines allow the cars to accelerate from any gear and at any speed. In the movie "Fast and Furious", Vin Diesel drove a muscle car at the end of the movie which was able to do a wheelie was a good demonstration of massive torque. The torque from the engine was able to lift the front end of the car like a dragster.

No one will ever give a figure on how much torque is too much as the more torque you have the more fun it will be but there is a limit on the durability of the transmission.