I keep hearing all this talk about how the new 3.8 makes all its power in the higher rpms. But how do we know? Has anyone actually seen an engine or chassis dyno for the new 3.8 and compared it to the old 4.0?
I know PEAK torque is quite high, but that really means very little, as the troque curve is a curve.
Being an Fbody fan I hear similar sotries all the time, the newer LS1 makes PEAK torque at 4400rpm compraed to 2500rpm for the old Lt1. So everyone assums that the LS1 has no bottom end grunt.
They couldn't be further from the truth, as the LS1 actually makes 90% of it's torque by 1500rpm, and funnily enough is also making more lb ft than the LT1 does at PEAK. So in fact the total opporsite is true and the LS1 is much much better in the low rpms.
Maybe something similar is possible with this new 3.8? It's an OHV and has a longer stroke than the old 4.0, all good signs for low end torque. The possibility exists that it does have a lousy bottom end, but without any form of dyno proof I don't know how people keeping making these assumptions and then justify them