[alman]

Hello
I was talking to a friend about at Jetta TDi, and she had mentioned that diesel horsepower is not exactly the same thing as gass horsepower. I'm guessing in the way that the 90bhp of the Jetta is not like the 90bhp of my Civic.
If this is true, what are the details of how diesel horsepower works.
Thanks

 

[FowVay]

Re: Diesel horsepower question (alman)

Well, by definition, horsepower is horsepower regardless of whether it comes from gas, diesel, or a horse. 1 horsepower is equal to 745.7 watts or 33,000 foot-pounds per minute.
I believe that the differences you are going to notice in the two different engines deal very much with how much horsepower the engine produces, at what RPM the engine produces this horsepower, how much torque the engine produces, and at what RPM the engine produces this torque.
A 90 hp TDI makes 155 ft/lbs of torque at a low 1900 rpm.
A 90 hp Civic probably makes 85 ft/lbs of torque at 3000 rpm. (this is quessing - I have no idea how much power they produce).
This difference in torque is what you notice between the two engines. I drive my TDI completely different from the way I drive my BMW. The TDI gets shifted at 2500 - 3000 rpm max. for most conditions of driving and it really doesn't do much good to rev it higher. My BMW likes to get rev'd up - the higher the better. My little 1.9 liter TDI makes almost as much torque as my 2.5 liter BMW.
And naturally I love driving my TDI much more than that old nasty gasoline powered BMW (except on race day).

 

[case sensitive]

Re: Diesel horsepower question (alman)

the HP is the same. It's the torque that's different. The 90hp jetta TDi makes 155ft/lbs of torque. Your civic makes much less. Drive her car, you'll see. Accelerate up a hill. I can pull 70 in 3rd gear up very steep hills.

 

[Vik F]

Re: Diesel horsepower question (alman)

prety much what the other posts above have stated......gas cars are ususally driven with there horse power in mind (shifting snd cruising rpms).......Diesels.....are using the crazy torque #'s and the rpms they're found in.
btw...a chipped TDI will get you about 130HP or 114whp and 222 ft/lbs or 195 wft/lbs

this is what i have....if you wanna see for yourself......let me know

 

[mdsune]

Re: Diesel horsepower question (alman)

Torque is all that really matters in any vehicle as long as the gearbox is matched. Well IMHO anyway.

That's why the old V8 in the same weight car will eat a riceburner off the line.

 

[TDIracer]

Re: Diesel horsepower question (mdsune)

On equal weighed cars, with same hp, the one with more torque wins.
Unfortunately diesel engines are very heavy when compared to gassers, so thr torque advantage is a bit dilluted, but nonetheless existent.