Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General Common Interests Question about Mazda 6 Duratec vs. Taurus'

I was looking on the 6's site and noticed that it only has a max of 192 ft-lbs of torque with more HP than the 3.0 in the Taurus, but the Taurus produces an even 200 ft-lbs...anyone have any explanation for this?? It'd be nice if the engine w/ more HP also produced more torque...

not sure if it the case here or not...sometimes to squeeze out a little more peak hp,it is at the expense of some bottom end torque......

Could it be a result of the variable valve timing? Honda's VTEC engines aren't overly torque-y (OK, so that's not really a word) but can put out some good HP numbers.

From what I remember reading, the engines share the block and some internals. The rest is Mazda designed. I think the torque loss is pretty minimal, and probably not very noticable. I also think the HP vs Torque war depends a lot on personal preference and driving style. I wish I could find some figures, but Formula 1 cars, arguably the fastest series around, have high-revving, high HP, lower torque engines. Its power that moves the car.

The heads, cams, and intake manifolds are all different. All three of these things influence the hp:torque ratios and power curves.

Hereâ??s the formula for the relationship between horsepower and torque:

T = (HP x 5252)/RPM

Or

HP = (T x RPM)/5252

Presumably, because the Taurus shows more peak torque, but a lower HP rating, the Mazda 6 has a slower torque drop off at high RPMs, thus resulting in a higher peak horsepower. As noted by Nick, there are several differences in the heads, cams, intake, (and, I would guess also exhaust).

Torque can be multiplied, horsepower cannot. So a 2:1 gear reduction doubles the T, but cuts the RPM in half, no effect on the HP.

This also explains why diesels have such low HP ratings with high torque.

Engine 1: 200 lb-ft torque at 5000 rpm equals 190 HP
Engine 2: 400 lb-ft torque at 2500 rpm equals 190 HP

At to an F-1 engine. The actual numbers are closely guarded secrets, but these are probably not too far off:

HP â?? 900 - 1000
Peak RPM â?? 18000 - 19000
Torque at peak HP â?? 265 â?? 290

As you can see, they are getting the HUGE horsepower by spinning the engine so high. It is interesting how short a modern F-1 cars is geared. They reach a top speed of about 210mph at 18 â?? 19K RPMs in high gear. For perspective, that equals about 70 mph at 6000 RPMs. (somewhere between 2nd and 3rd gear on a contour 5sp, about 2nd gear in the automatic.) And that is 7th gear. Imagine how short 1st gear is.

Just some food for thought.

Richard