Why is torque important for off-roading, towing capacity, etc?
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Torque is the direct measure of how much mass your car can accelerate, and how quickly it is accelerated.
The motor puts out a torque (which is the number the car manufacturer puts on the label), a twisting force if you will, at a certain speed. Now that speed is way to high, but the gearbox can change that to a lower speed with higher torque. That higher torque is transfered to the wheels. The wheels now take that torque and apply it on a certain distance to the rotational axis (radius of the wheel), which makes it a force.
Quick insert here: torque = force * distance from axis. So it is basically the same phenomenon, but force works in a straight line and torque works around an axis.
Force = mass * acceleration.
The more mass you want to accelerate, the more force you need. The more acceleration you want, the more force you need.
Power on the other hand is just the statement at which speed the torque takes place. The total amount of “oomph” it can produce.
Now you may think that torque is the thing you want in a sports car aswell, because it is the thing thet pushes the car forward. That’s correct, but we’re talking about wheel torque as the cause of acceleration. If you have high revving sports car it may have less torque than a truck but still feels quicker, because it can stay in the lower gear (high wheel torque) for a longer time until it needs to shift.
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