Relationship od torque and power.
This is a classic misunderstanding, common if you didn't take physics.
Torque is a motive force. It can be linear or circular. You apply the force to do work, in this case moving something. Power is a measurement of how much work you do. So the more you apply your force in a given length of time, the more work you do. That is why an engine that generates 300 lb/ft of torque at 3000 rpm is making half as much horsepower as an engine that is making 300 lb/ft at 6000 rpm. It's applying the torque twice as much in a given time.
So what counts is the most torque over the rpm range you actually use. An engine that makes lots of horsepower at high speed will lose at low speed to an engine that makes more power at low speed. Similarly, if you can use the high rpm, an engine that makes less peak torque can still accelerate the car faster if if makes that torque at a high enough rpm. It's applying the lesser torque more often.
Torque applied produces power to do work. An electric motor at a stop produces maximum torque but does no work even though it is expending energy, since nithing is moving.
I've been reading these mindless discussions for many years. I blame them on the idiot magazine writers who took jounalism instead of physics.
I'm looking forward to having someone argue with me about this. You're wrong, this is the way it is. Anything else is nonsense, no matter how fervently you believe it.
David Merritt