SOMETIMES HORSEPOWER GETS all the love, but if it’s pull you’re after as well as power, torque should be a top consideration when picking a car.
What is torque? Essentially, it’s the twisting force that an engine produces. The more torque a car has, the more force it will have to accelerate and to pull a load with. Ideally, you want a car with ample speed (from the horsepower) and strength (from the torque), but some engines will have more of one than the other, which is perfectly fine too.
Fancy driving a set of wheels with high torque and heaps of engine force? You can’t go wrong with these options…
This particular Tesla is powered by the 85kWh battery and it has a dual motor and all-wheel drive. Tesla doesn’t give official torque figures but the figure quoted by most American car review websites is 658Nm (Newton metres, doncha know). Thanks to the all-electric power-train and dual motors – one for the front and the other for the rear axle – torque delivery is instant and you really do feel the Gs as you get that boost in acceleration.
The Porsche Panamera is one of the finest cars for long distance, high performance motoring. This four-seat luxury cruiser has a massive maximum torque of 650Nm from 1,750-2,750rpm. Those prodigious amounts of torque means the Panamera is propelled with brute force, and overtaking is a breeze.
The magnificent Mercedes-AMG blends exhilarating performance with practicality – so you’ll get to the supermarket in record time and have space for all the groceries. This high performance executive saloon has a twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 engine, and packs a massive 700Nm of torque. Plus, it does the 0-100km/h dash in just 4.1 seconds.
The latest Ford Mustang has been given a new lease of life and a modern makeover to boot. This 2017 fastback model is powered by the 2.3-litre Ecoboost engine which makes a healthy maximum torque output of 432Nm at 3,000rpm. This means the iconic muscle car can get to 100km/h from a standstill in just 5.8 seconds… quicker than a Porsche, FYI.
Another iconic muscle car with plenty of pulling power, this 1972 left-hand drive Dodge Charger SE is a two-door hardtop model. It is powered by a 5.8-litre V8 engine which makes 447Nm of torque at 3,400rpm and helps propel this icon of the motoring world from 0 to 100km/h in around 9 seconds.
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