Remember peak torque isn't all that helpful either as most cars have a 'torque-multiplier' that actually changes the amount of torque at the wheels (also called a gearbox).
More important is the shape of the torque curve and the power that is generating from it (by multiplying the torque by engine speed).
It's magazines like Autocar that started all this by quoting the torque figures and torque per tonne, which is all rather useless when you're using a gearbox (it'd be a different story in cars only had one gear). They'd be better off showing the torque/power curves as their much more useful.
Anyway, because of this people now talk about how they can waft along on the torque and that diesels accelerate faster because they have more torque.
Arrgh. Anyway, rant over...
sorry