The middle of the power band is where they do their best work.
You must have been short shiftin' your SVT. Best SVT work is at the top 5-7K RPM NOT middle.
Oh, and your 217 vs 169 torque comparison does not reflect whats happening. SVT has 2 peaks, one at about 3000 and the one at 5500. Check out some dyno plots and see who is making more grunt below 3K.
