Ok After reading the whole post I agree with @fli-gti. I would definitly want more torque on broader band.
@Saabi
Well once in the middle of the night on the Hwy I was racing with a Nissan Maxima and I had a rented Mitsu. Diamante/Magna/Sigma or whatever and wherever it is know with a 3.5L. This is when I was still in Univ. and was going for two week trip to visit friends in the northeastern US. The cars specs were 210hp and 230lb/tq compared to maximas 222hp and 205lb/tq. We were racing through traffic zigzaging at 90-100mph. I would let him catch me and then accelerate again to increase the gap between us or make him come besides me and then accelerate. I would pull away from him all the time and everytime. he kept trying and trying but to no avail, and just gave up and took the exist then face any more embarssment. Now, that was not driving skills coz I was driving an auto, all I had to do was just floor the pedal and the auto did the rest.
it is the torque at work which at lower rpms makes the engine feel bigger then it is, just like in a 2.0d corolla or anyother diesel cars. Torque gives you better driving feel around town. the point you are discussing about torque giving you wheel spin and tyre burn, and stuff. That is ifyou have a whole lot of torque available right at early revs of the engine, like in big pushrod engines in American muscle cars. But then again they have a bad system of placing power to the tramac, then cars of today.
So I hope I have cleared things a bit. Be it honda or Toyota tuners they would want to make as much torque as possible out of engine on the good side of the revs or power band.
