I love this thread, and you know why? I'll give my point of view on this.

I drive a Honda Civic with a 1.6L. Most of us have that or a 1.8L, which also has no torque (relatively.) Some of us have a B20 in our Civics which has more torque, but, ultimately, we still have no torque. (Aside from the Honda Accord V6, Acura TL/CL, etc) I am not looking for torque because I drive a SOHC VTEC which was meant to make power upwards of 5000rpm.

Like inspyral said, "... looking for torque in a 4cyl Honda is somewhat of a lost cause." I tell my friends this all the time. You want torque? 5.0 Mustang. I realize that given all other things equal: torque will win a race. Well, duh, but I drive a 1.6L. Torque is not in my vocabulary.

I don't think we can generalize that 4-2-1 makes more low-mid torque than a 4-1 because I feel that design has more to do with it. Once upon a time, I had scanned articles from a magazine.

Take a look:
http://www.geocities.com/oaziano/Hea...t/dcheader.jpg
http://www.geocities.com/oaziano/Hea...ugenheader.jpg
(Click on, Highlight in address bar, Copy, Paste in new window)

This was on an Acura Integra GSR.