The Truth About Torque: This Is What Makes a Car Fun – And Why You Love It

Next time you’re at a car dealership and the salesman starts to toss around ‘torque and horsepower’ lingo, then pauses to mansplain what torque is, do this:

“Hold on for just a minute while I engage my torque-driven touch-up.”

via GIPHY

We hate it when people throw around technical lingo to try to confuse. Or to sound super smart when they are not. Torque is one of those terms that is especially debased. Like so many other automotive terms, you don’t need to be a car guy…..or a guy…..to appreciate torque.

You use it every day: it’s simply a twisting force that causes rotation. I may have used it last night to take the cork out of my wine bottle. It’s the force that propels your lipstick out of its case. It’s also the force that propels your car when you hit the accelerator.

Here’s an old saying that puts torque into practical terms:

Understeer is when you hit the wall with the front of the car.
Oversteer is when you hit the wall with the back of the car.
Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall.
Torque is how far you take the wall after you hit it.

          –Old racer’s creed

Forget the wordy equations that explain torque; let’s get to the matter faster:  Torque is basically the amount of power the car has for acceleration. So, if you say, “I wanna go fast,” a la Ricky Bobby, you need torque. The more torque an engine has, the faster it can propel itself. It can be confused with horsepower, but really, it pairs with horsepower to get a car down the road. Torque is how much the engine can propel, and horsepower is how quickly it can do it.

Example: I applied torque to the lid of the peanut butter jar last night. My kids were screaming impatiently so I added horsepower to open it FAST.

Lanae Jackson, multicultural marketing manager for Nissan, described torque to us like this:

via GIPHY

It’s that blow-your-hair-back feeling of thrust. And we love that, right?

What You Need to Know About Torque

Ever heard of Ludicrous Mode? That’s Tesla’s top speed setting in some of its models that lets them go from 0 to 60 MPH in the blink of an eye. And it’s something that electric cars can do much better than gas cars and that won over the EV skeptics. That’s because as the current flows from an electric motor rotation is instant and ends up providing maximum throttle when the driver accelerates. As a result, electric cars naturally have more torque and, can be more fun. But watch out; their silence paired with the torque can be a fast, and perhaps, an unwelcome surprise.

Now when shopping for your next car, you can ignore the salesman’s gear head razzle-dazzle. You can talk torque all day, but you’d rather get behind the wheel and drive. You’re welcome.