What is torque in cars/vehicles? And why do pickups have such low hp but alot of torque?

Question

What is torque in cars/vehicles? And why do pickups have such low hp but alot of torque?

In: 3

Answer 1

Basically: torque is how much force makes something spin, or makes it stop spinning. If you multiply speed (rpm) by torque you get power (horsepowers).

Cars have a transmission (gears) between the engine and the wheels, witch can change high speed low torque into low speed but high torque. What it can’t change is the power. 200 hp is going to be 200 hp regardless of how you try to change it’s speed and torque (ignoring losses).

The real reason pickups have high torque, because big engines (especially diesels) can’t rev as high as small engines, so they need more torque to make the same power.