For commercial uses requiring towing, load carrying and other tractive tasks, diesel engines tend to have better torque characteristics than petrol engines. Diesel engines tend to have their torque peak quite low in their speed range (usually between 1600 and 2000 rpm for a small-capacity unit, lower for a larger engine used in a truck). This provides smoother control over heavy loads when starting from rest, and, crucially, allows the diesel engine to be given higher loads at lower speeds than a petrol engine, making them much more economical for these applications. This characteristic is not so desirable in private cars, so most modern diesels used in such vehicles use electronic control, variable geometry turbochargers and shorter piston strokes to achieve a wider spread of torque over the engine's speed range, typically peaking at around 2500–3000 rpm.
While diesel engines tend to have more torque at lower engine speeds than petrol engines, diesel engines tend to have a narrower power band than petrol engines. Naturally aspirated diesels tend to lack power and torque at the top of their speed range. This narrow band is a reason why a vehicle such as a truck may have a gearbox with as many as 18 or more gears, to allow the engine's power to be used effectively at all speeds. Turbochargers tend to improve power and torque at high engine speeds; superchargers improve power at lower speeds; and variable geometry turbochargers improve the engine's performance equally by flattening the torque curve. The Paxman Hi-Dyne engine was a 1950s attempt to widen the power band of a diesel engine.
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This characteristic is not so desirable in private cars, so most modern diesels used in such vehicles use electronic control, variable geometry turbochargers and shorter piston strokes to achieve a wider spread of torque over the engine's speed range, typically peaking at around 2500–3000 rpm.