i just want to point out how over rated horse power is for everything except for sports cars and race quads and bikes. ft pounds of tourqe is what is needed for everything except speed if you are plowing in deep snow or mud and you want the power to get out that is where tourqe comes into play all these people with there jap bikes only see who is faster down the drag if you want fast get a raptor or somthing if you want to be able to pull a heavy load get yourself a sportsman. the japaneese seem to not get this that is why there toyotas and nissans will never compare to my Ford F-150....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

Well you are right and wrong about what you have said. I have a couple toyotas that I would put up against a ford any day of the week. Not to knock a ford but for off road capabilities a toyota will kill a ford. You can have hp and torque. And you can also have tons of torque with not alot of hp. I have a toyota with a 305ci that has been built to the hill 345hp but I also have another toyota with a stock motor but it is all gear with tons of low end torque. I take them off roading alot but as for the mud goes the toy with the stock motor and all gears does the best. I used to have a full size blazer with a 383 425hp stroker motor and it broke just about every time I went out. The full size trucks just dont hold up like the smaller trucks. So you cant say that the japaneese trucks dont compair to your ford. Yes you can pull alot on the road but thats pretty much it. It is way to big and heavy to go off roading and once you put some big tires and hp on that f-150 you will start to snap every week point in the drive train. And there is alot of them. So as Polaris goes I think they have the best of both worlds. HP and torque. I have seen sportsmans pull around just about every other make possable and has come out on top 90 percent of the time.

 

i was talking about work with the trucks not offroading hook a bobcat on a trailer upto your toy and see how it does. now dont get me wrong if i was going to buy a small truck for off roading it would be a toy but i need my truck to pull heavy loads and even though it will bearly spin the tires "hp" it will pull a 20 foot horse trailer no prob with horses....and i know that toyota is trying to get into the full size market and i am sure it is a nice truck " I have not driven one yet " but imo nothing comes close to the strength and reliabilty of a ford truck. need more proof go to a job site and see how many toyotas are around...

 

Personally, I like Dodge....but that is a whole nother subject[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] I would agree that you can get TONS of torque out of little 4 banger motors. Heck, argueably the best motor for a hardcore offroad jep is the 4 banger. That thing will run practicly upside down. All you have to do it gear it down, in the trans, transfer case, ad axels. I have even seen people hook up 2 transfer cases together to get an amazing 11:1 low gear ratio (or so he claims). Thats just the transfer case. Then he was running 5:18 (?) gears, plus the ratio of the trans and torque converter. What I am getting at is gearing makes all the difference. And torque is the big difference between the rice cars and muscle cars. The torque of a muscle car is what gives you that neck snapping acceleration. The rice cars have to get up to the high RPMs before they start making their power. Just look at the Honda S2000. It doesn't start making power until like 5k RPMs. Then look at the Viper. It makes 90% of its torque at 1500 RPMs. Thats why the redline is only around 6500 RPM. Same goes with Diesels. They don't make a whole lot of HP, but make rediculas amounts of torque (compared to their hp ratings)

 

I'll still take one of the big three. Slammed a door on the new "full-sized" Nissan at a local powersports show.....what a toy. Just my choice. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

big three??? honda toyota nissan or ford chevy dodge???

 

The new nissan is a workhorse. In the 4x4 mag they put the nissan at the top above the new ford f150 and the toyota tundra. The pulling capacity of the nissan is 9500 lbs and the f150 is 8000 lbs with the tundra last with 6500 lbs. Its a nice looking truck to. So the japs have figured it out.

 

dam really 9500 lbs i new nissan made good moters but dam i will admit that is impressive and maybe i was wrong....or they are proving me wrong



still love my ford[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I work for toyota and the tundra is a nice ride but is weak on the pulling department. But yes 9500 lbs. Thats like the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks but it is considered a 1/2 ton truck.

 

Actually it wasn't the japs that figured out the full-size Nissan truck. It was designed and built here in the U.S. (If you want to get technical). I think they had F-150's and Silverado's that they caompared notes to. I personally will only buy American products (GM). That's why I own:
2003 Polaris Sportsman 600 Twin - mine
2000 Oldsmobile Silhouette Premier - wife's
1990 Buick LeSabre Coupe - my back up car (238,000 miles)
1989 Chevy Suburban 2500 4x4 - my daily driver (181,000 miles)
1970 Chevy Camaro 406 sb - my toy (12.16 @ 109 mph)

As far as 4 cylinders having tons of torque? They don't. It's like bigbad said, if they gear it down a multitide of times they'll feel more powerful. Heck, I saw a car at a carshow one time that was powered by a B&S 12 HP motor. Granted it was just a fairground cruiser, but it was geared way down so a riding lawnmower engine could move it around. Another example of gear multiplication is our winches on our fourwheelers. My Warn 2500 has 136:1 ratio. I bet that electric motor isn't very powercful at 1:1.

Ok, I'll stop rambling.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-blush.gif[/img]