Originally Posted by StreetAssassin
First, i have no clue what a ford ****us svt guy is doing on the honda tech website, they can laugh all they want, and im not comparing honda Tq to othrs Tq, but the H22 has the most torque potential of most honda motors. and about the 8000 rpms, i would much rather have lests say a 350hp powerband of 3000-8000 rpms, instead of a 400+ hp powerband at 7500-9000+ rpm. maybe im just getting worked up, but i would rather have a quick car than a fast car, at least for the street, because if you are constantly redlining your car at 8000+ you either dont know how to drive, or feel that you are vulnerabe if you dont rev that high. i dont care if the svt has 500 hp out of the box, FORD IS FORD, and the srt4 neon, hahaha, rally damn fast, STILL A 4 DOOR NEON!!!!!!!!!! let them say what they want.
um, first of all i don't own a ford. second of all, i wouldn't mind owning a ford. third point is that yes compared to HONDA engines the H22 is "torquey" but in the grander scheme of things, which is what one thinks about when they say "who needs HP when you can have torque", it makes me chuckle. 153 ft lbs of torque? this is something to brag about amongst "car guys?" last point is, HP is a function of torque, so your original statement doesn't make all that much sense.
i'm not sure you've ever driven your car in a race-type environment, but chances are if you have an H22 and have taken it out for some open laps, you've never dipped below 5000 rpm. you take that f'in throttle and you mash it till you're bouncing off the rev limiter and then you shift right into vtec at 5200 and do it all over again. my point is, your engine, my engine, is meant to be driven way up top from 5000-7600 rpm, and if you're trying to squeeze "low end torque" out of it or you're stuck in 3rd gear @ 3500rpm wishing you could accelerate faster, it probably means you ought to downshift.
sure i'd love a wider powerband in my car. that's all fine and dandy, but knowing how to drive a particular car means that you know how to compensate for its particular weaknesses. in this case, as is the case for most small displacement NA cars, you keep those rev's up and you pin that tach at redline.