Understand markings on your car

Automobile makers, particularly marketers sometimes have to stuff big ideas into small acronyms so the buying public can digest them.
The best ones become so prominent that people know the acronym without having any idea what it stands for or even does.

What automotive acronym should everyone know?
Let us look at some few acronyms manufacturers plaster on car bodies and engines that are meant to mean something but a huge percentage don’t know or care what they mean but know they are good for their cars.

Honda acronym
Honda lovers have always treated the VTEC acronym like it was its own word synonymous with great performance.
In reality, VTEC stands for Variable Valve Timing and Lift Electronic Control, which describes a system used by Honda in its engines to adjust the timing of the camshaft to different speeds to change the performance profile at different levels of engine rotation.
This gives Honda cars typically fuel-sipping performance and the power boost associated with VTEC.

Similar versions
There are other versions of the same system in many cars. However, they go by different names. For instance, Toyota has VVTi which stands for Variable Valve Timing with Intelligent while BMW has VANOS which is an abbreviation as VAriable NOckenwellenSteuerung” (Translation: Variable Camshaft Timing).
Many people relate these markings and rightly to mean increased efficiency and performance.

Mitsubishi and GDi
For instance, GDi is a synonymous for Mitsubishi cars, which basically stands for Gasoline Direct Injection.
Direct fuel injection has been used in diesel engines for many years, but not in petrol engine until recently.
Toyota has their variation of the technology called D4 and D4-D for petrol and Diesel engines respectively.
While Volkswogen calls its version of the technology with Turbocharged engines TDI and TSI where TSI stands for Turbocharged Stratified Injection while TDI stands for Turbocharged Direct Injection. When you have a hard time remembering which one is which, think of the D in TDI meaning it has the diesel engine.

AWD and 4WD
These stand for All-Wheel Drive and 4-Wheel Drive respectively. By definition, the commonly understood difference between the two boils down to your involvement with the car’s operation.
4WD is usually controlled by the driver, engaged either by dashboard controls or shifters while AWD typically refers to automatic, seamless operation with little or no driver intervention.
Either way, you get extra traction in many conditions at the expense of more fuel and maintenance to run on AWD or 4WD.

4Matic
This is synonymous with Mercedes Benz cars. This basically is the name of the All-Wheel-Drive (AWD) system developed and used by Mercedes-Benz.
It is designed to increase traction in slippery conditions. Different manufacturers have different names for the same thing for instance Audi calls its system Quattro while VW calls theirs 4Motion. Subaru sticks to the usual AWD acronym.

Turbo or Turbocharger
This basically means your engine gets a power boost when you floor the pedal. A compressor increases the air entering the engine hence greater performance. Kompressor is the variation by Mercedes-Benz for their supercharged engines.
Today, most know the AMG badge by its performance credentials.

But the three-letter acronym actually contains the name of two of its founders, Hans Werner Aufrecht, and Erhard Melcher, and Aufrecht’s birthplace of Großaspach in Germany.
So AMG stands for Aufrecht Melcher Großaspach. Audi’s RS stands for RennSport literally translated as “Racing Sport” whereas BMW’s M stands for Motorsport.

V6 or V8 or V12
This basically refers to the physical configuration of the cylinders in an engine. A V6 engine has six cylinders with two banks each having three cylinders.
These banks are usually at 90 degree angles though sometimes can be smaller. The same logic follows through with the V8 and V12.

As you can see most of these acronyms have a tangible technical background and cars that have them are usually special.
In fact some car owners go to great lengths to slap these marking on their cars so that they can have some bragging rights. AMG and the M badge on Mercedes Benz cars and BMW respectively are very suspect.

Other acronyms
TX acronym
It is the lowest variant offered in Toyota Prado. It has a four cylinder engine coupled with a four speed auto/five speed manual transmission.

Lexus LX
The LX name stands for “Luxury Crossover”. The first generation LX 450 started production in 1995 and was Lexus’ first entry into the SUV market.

Land Rover LR3
This stands for the Land Rover Discovery 3, which is part of the Land Rover mid-size luxury SUVs. It is the third generation, titled among Land Rover five generations

Chrysler 300
It is a rear-wheel-drive, front-engine, full-sized luxury car manufactured and marketed by Chrysler as a four -oor sedan and station wagon.

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