The technologies used in making automobiles have become more advanced as more and more cars are being introduced in the market nowadays. As vehicles evolved, the terminologies associated with them have evolved as well. However, these words are often misused, misinterpreted, redefined and passed on from one generation to another before their true meaning was cemented in the automobile vocabulary.
Here are some of the car-related terms you may have been using wrong all along:
SUV
– many of today’s vehicles that are considered SUVs are actually crossovers. Why? For a vehicle to be classified as a sports utility vehicle, it has to be constructed by a method called body-on-frame, which is what most trucks are made of. Nowadays, SUVs are built in a method used for making cars.
Moonroof
– a lot of people think a sunroof is also a moonroof, or that a moonroof is made of glass and a sunroof of metal. Both are wrong. A sunroof can also be considered a moonroof if it’s made of glass that slides back inside the roof of a car. But a sunroof can’t be considered a moonroof it’s made of other materials and retracts in any other way.
Sports car
– if your vehicle comes with a backseat that can accommodate a fully grown man, it’s not actually a sports car, which means that your Camaro or M3 isn’t one. But if your ride is as lightweight as realistically possible and has more emphasis on driving experience than luxury, then you have a sports vehicle.
Muscle car
– everyone might disagree on this, but a muscle car is one that can fit a family but happens to have enough power to change the planet’s rotation. This means that your Mustang or Challenger isn’t a muscle car, but pony car. If you have a GTO or Chevy SS, then you’ve got yourself a muscle car.
Hubcaps
– some people often think that hubcaps are those plastic wheel covers you can buy at Walmart. But the truth is hubcaps are made of metal or plastic to cover the hub, which doesn’t really serve major functions, only beautification and longevity.
Now that you know what these car terminologies really mean, you can have bragging rights to correct your friends who use them wrongly, or not.
