Honestly, I know that the G37 comes w/ 330 HP @ 7,000 RPM and 270 lb-ft @ 5200. But how come they increased the horsepower 30 hp but not the torque (maybe an extra 30 lb-ft.)? I think that would allow us to take the 335i off the line. Also, is hp a lot easier to increase than torque?

 

i think is people like a lot of hp, so infiniti decided to increase the hp and not the tq to attractive new buyers? just my thought. it would be nice if infiniti higher the tq, test drove one earlier this week and it was missing something down low..

 

 

I agree, I test drove one today, no where near as much low end tq as my Z, but that didn't keep me from setting up to get one today.

 

Keep in mind that they didn't increase the "peak" torque.

But throughout the powerband the G37 has way more torque than the older VQs. That's how they are able to get the extra HP.

Torque X RPMs/ 5252 = HP

 

i feel that teh powerband on the new G is incredible. its not peak power its useable, passing power. G holds its on imo and i got lots of miles to prove it.

 

The G is not the best on the low end say from 0-60 but wow when I'm on the highway I can just floor it and it just never seems like its gunna shift up! Our engine is deffinately capable of producing much more power but I supposed they tuned it for the long run. You should be able to add a good 40hp with that ECU reflash but I know when I put a chip in my Audi it caused a lot of problems. Hopefully a plenum and the JWT Dual Intake will come out soon, that should be an easy, inexpensive way to give it a little extra kick.

 

holy crap, your right about the passing power. i was test driving at like 50 then i floored it, then i looked at and i was going 100...i was amazed, pushed me against my seat too..

 

I think the numbers are great considering the displacement. Alot of high revving small V-8's don't even crack 300tq, check out the new m3.

 

Here's what I probably remember from my previous Mags that I read years ago, the longer the stroke (pistons), the less torque it will generate. With a higher torque power, the car is capable to carry more people/weights without showing stress than the higher horse power ones that we normally see on sport cars. But that, on the other hand, will hurt its acceleration as well. (Note: gearing also is important at this stage).
If it just mostly contains a driver himself like many sport cars do, then why not crank up the hp to increase max. accel.? Depends on the purpose of the car, the engineers can actually play around with the engine internally to increase/dedrease hp and torque. As for marketing, if the hourse power and the .xxx second in 0-60 are so important to all of us (buyers), then engineers will put that on top of the board as their priority list.
Germans cars enjoy the torque over hp, so when added passenger(s), thye don't show stress/weakness just as much as Japanese's cars. I notice that all trucks have torque power greater than horse power because I think they mainly used to pull/tow rather than do 0-60s like many other sport cars. Even if the SUVs use the same engine size borrowed from its smaller class, the sedans or coupes, their hp and torque would rated differently.
I think we should combine the hp and the torque together to actually see the peak power of the engine, fairly. To asnswer your question, is it easier to increase hp over the torque? Does not matter, engineers can design any power numbers they wanted but it all comes down to the budgets, the class that the cars are in, and/or the direction that the CEO wants the cars to be leaded to.
Oops, wait the minute, the Toyota Prius has 296 lb-ft ot torque in its electric motor? >>>Holly cow, maybe we all should get the elec. motor then<<<.

 

Maybe I'm misunderstanding your first paragrah up there ^^^ - but torque IS accelleration.

Also - I'm not sure about the comment that most japanese engines don't make more tq than hp - the widely used VQ Engines produced more tq than hp for a long time before the Variable Valve Timing changes increased HP abruptly. Before that (2004) - almost every V6 Nissan has higher hp than tq. There's many examples of higher tq than hp in Toyota/Lexus' lineup and Honda/Acura as well.

It has been pretty standard historically that Japanese V6's make more tq than hp.
The new HR Z motor and the G37 motor are exceptions if anything due not to a loss in tq, but a bump in hp due to longer tq powerbands. (as mentioned above, Torque X RPMs/ 5252 = HP)

 

^ agreed..

btw, look at the new M3....has a v8 but only makes 295 lb-ft of peak torque...that's less then their 335

 

the e90 is most def not a successor to the e46 m3.

nissan put so much pressure on BMW with the G37 that this was the result.

BMW had to go FI therefore a slightly modded 335i gives the M3 a run for its money.

also i heard they are supposed to be bring back the M3 sedan. how are they going to market this.

slightly modded 335i steps on the toes of the M3 which means it steps on the toes of the M3 sedan. so whats the poitn of the M3 sedan with the 335i already being a sedan, and the M3 sedan will step on the toes of the M5

or lateast thats the way i see it

 

Hmmm.. torque AT THE WHEELS is acceleration. Since the engine's output is channeled through a transmission that multiplies the torque, the gear ratio becomes important when considering a car's acceleration. The shorter the gear ratio, the more the torque is multiplied and the faster the input has to turn. Since horsepower, as you stated, is directly related to RPM (in fact, describes the engine's relationship of torque to RPM), horsepower is an important component of the acceleration of a car.

Short version: Very high rpm == lots of torque multiplication at the wheels == fast car, given reasonable torque numbers. Real world example: Formula 1 race car, <200lb/ft torque, 19,000rpm redline, 800HP, 0-100-0 in <5s, top speed about 230mph, nurburgring time < 6min.

 

As mentioned above HP is torque multiplication.
If an engine produces more peak torque than another it does not necessarily mean that it has a better powerband or more torque throughout the RPMs.
Ex The new VQ produces the same "peak" torque as the older VQs. But everywhere else in the power band the newer VQ produces more torque. When you combine more torque with higher RPMs you get more horse power.

A much better way of rating an engine is via "power under the curve".
Don't put all your stock in peak numbers. Without looking at a dyno chart you might look at both numbers (peak tq and peak hp) to get a general idea of how the engine performs in real world conditions.

Another example to consider: The S2K produces a lot of peak hp but very little peak tq. Thus to meet it's best performance numbers you have to drop the clutch from higher RPMs. If you try to use the entire powerband you will have slower numbers as much of it includes a range of low torque X low RPMs which = low hp.

In summary torque and HP are directly related to each other. It's just that mags and reviews only report on "peak" numbers. You have to gage by the entire powerband.