Eli5: 2 cars have the same Horsepower but different engine in terms of displacement (2.0L TDI vs 3.0L TDI) but what difference does it make and which one is better?

Question

Eli5: 2 cars have the same Horsepower but different engine in terms of displacement (2.0L TDI vs 3.0L TDI) but what difference does it make and which one is better?

In: 87

Answer 1

You’re getting into torque vs power territory. All things being equal, consider 1000 rabbits vs 4 horses pulling something. We can imagine that 1000 rabbits can pull the same thing about as fast as 4 horses (yea, I’m making up numbers), so they’re capable of the same peak horsepower (work per second). But can 1000 rabbits pull an RV out of the mud? That’s the torque part of the equation. What can produce the strongest rotational movement to the wheels?

Some applications really need to optimize on torque vs just total power…such as pulling and towing.