I'll have a go since I'm here.
Horsepower is (basically) torque times rotational speed. So if you apply a torque (rotational force) to something and it gets some speed you can say you have power. In the case of car engines, you usually hear about it in the opposite direction, a given engine has some horsepower (it's been designed and built and its stats have been measured) and this results in torque and speed at the driveshaft of the engine. The speed you can see (it's rotating), the torque is more difficult, but it's there. This torque/speed then has to be coupled to the wheels of the car to get them to move. Being things that rotate themselves, they too will end up with torque and rotational speed, but to get it from the engine, they have to be connected to it by gearing (transmission). Car engines might have lots of horsepower but usually this just means that they give lots of rotational speed and not much torque. Using different sized gears all linked to together the rotational speed can be dialled down and the torque increased (because the engine is supplying a given power at any time, thanks to the equation above if you manage to decrease the rotational speed by applying a sequence of gears the torque must then go up). After going through the gears to the wheel the torque is increased. In terms of a car starting to move, since they are generally pretty high mass the torque needs to be quite high to get any appreciable acceleration (thanks to another equation, the rotational equivalent of force = mass times acceleration).
A "better" engine is then one which is designed to produce more torque for a given horsepower. This is because even though the rotational speed of the driveshaft might well be decreased, it's still going to be much faster than you want the car to go, the torque at the wheels will be higher from the outset (getting the car moving faster) and less gearing will mean less mechanical losses in getting the torque to the wheels.
I have no idea if that answers your question but Happy New Year anyway