What is torque in a car?

Torque is the twisting force an engine produces at its crankshaft, quoted in lb-ft in the UK or newton-metres elsewhere. Where horsepower tells you how fast an engine can do work, torque tells you how hard it's pulling at any given moment — it's the difference between a figure on a spec sheet and the shove you actually feel in the seat when you put your foot down.

Most engines produce their peak torque somewhere in the middle of the rev range rather than at the top, which is why a car can feel strong long before the engine's revving hard. It's a different measurement from horsepower, though the two are closely related through engine speed. Enough theory — if it's the feeling you're after rather than the physics, car gifts is where that obsession gets a wall to live on.

Written by Craig Fearn, Petrol & Ink.