Torque is the stuff that rockets you away from the stoplight and shoves you into your seat.
Torque is the amount of “turning power” you have, much in the
same way you turn a wrench. 369 foot-pounds means that if you had a
wrench that was 1 foot long, and applied a force of 369 pounds directly
perpendicular to that wrench, you would get 369 foot-pounds of torque.
As you know, an engine’s output is rated in horsepower and torque.
Torque is pulling power, and it’s best demonstrated as the grunt that
gets you moving, while horsepower is what keeps you going.
Without sounding like your high-school physics teacher, torque is the
twisting force created in an engine by rotating parts; horsepower is the
measurement of how fast torque is being used. Horsepower and torque
work hand-in-hand, as horsepower is calculated from torque.
For the average buyer, torque shouldn’t be a deciding factor unless you
know you’ll be towing or hauling heavy loads. And that’s where
high-torque vehicles will thrive, driving while towing a trailer or
maxing out cargo capacity. It will be easier to accelerate and sustain
speed with a high-torque car in any situation, but especially with heavy
loads.
High-performance cars can also produce gobs of torque that greatly aid
in acceleration. That feeling of your eyeballs being sucked into the
back of your head in a fast car during heavy right-foot pounding is an
example of excessive torque.