General
remarks for specifications
Layout
Chassis and body
Dimensions
Engine
Capacity
Valve gears
Induction
Other engine features
Max power
Max torque
Transmission
Suspension layout
Suspension features
Kerb weight
Top speed
0-60 mph
0-100 mph
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General
remarks for specifications
Layout
FWD: front-wheel drive
RWD: rear-wheel drive
4WD: 4-wheel drive
e-4WD: one axle driven by engine, another axle driven by electric motor.
4WS: 4-wheel steer
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General
remarks for specifications
Chassis and Body
Al: Aluminum
Mg: Magnesium
CF: Carbon-fiber or carbon-fiber reinforced plastic
see also AutoZine
Technical School
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General
remarks for specifications
Dimensions
Width does not include mirrors
Wheelbase is the distance between front and
rear axle lines
American prefer to use inch instead
of mm, where 1 inch =
25.4 mm.
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General
remarks for specifications
Engine
type
see AutoZine
Technical School
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General
remarks for specifications
Capacity
cc: cubic centimeter
(1cc
= a cubic volume of 1cm x 1cm x 1cm)
American used to
use cubic inches instead, where 1 cubic inch = 16.4 cc.
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General
remarks for specifications
Valve
gears
DOHC: double-overhead camshaft
SOHC: single-overhead camshaft
OHV: overhead valve (implies using
pushrod to actuate valves)
VVT: variable valve timing
DVVT: dual-variable valve timing
(intake+exhaust)
VVL: variable valve lift
VVT+L: variable valve timing and
lift
(refer to a single mechanism achieving both functions, e.g.
cam-changing VVT)
VVD: variable valve duration
see AutoZine
Technical School for more details about valve gears
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General
remarks for specifications
Induction
VIM: variable intake manifolds
Turbo: turbocharger
Supercharger: mechanical supercharger
VTG turbo: variable turbine geometry turbocharger
Sequential twin-turbo: two
turbochargers, one operates at low rev and another joins / takeovers at
higher rpm.
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General
remarks for specifications
Other
engine features
DI: direct injection
CDI: common-rail direct injection (for
diesel engines)
Twin-spark: 2 spark plugs per cylinder
Cylinder cut-off / Cylinder deactivation: mechanism that shuts down some
cylinders to save fuel under light load. Some call it Variable
Displacement Management (VDM).
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General
remarks for specifications
Max
power
For hybrid:
(engine power) + (electric motor power) = (combined power)
hp: horsepower
ps: stands for
Pferdestärke,
equivalent to hp.
kW: kilowatt.
1kW =
1.34hp.
Most European countries prefer to use kW.
There are
different
test methods
for power measurement. Test conditions such as ambient temperature,
atmospheric
pressure
and accessory loss could be different, thus the same engine could
obtain
different power ratings by different test methods.
The most
commonly used
test methods
are:
- EEC:
European
standard. Measurement is made
at 99kPa and 25°C. Rate in kW.
- SAE:
American
standard.
Measurement is made at 99kPa and 25°C. Rate in hp. 1kW = 1.341hp
(SAE).
- DIN:
German
standard.
Measurement is made
at 101.3kPa and 20°C. Rate in hp (ps). 1kW = 1.360hp (DIN).
- JIS:
Japanese
standard.
Theoretically same as DIN but we always find it is more optimistic.
- British
horsepower: same
as SAE. Rated in bhp (could be confused with brake horse power).
In other words,
300hp
(SAE)
= 300bhp (British) > 300hp (DIN) > 300ps (JIS)
In AutoZine,
generally speaking,
horsepower of American, European and Japanese cars are rated by SAE,
DIN
and JIS respectively. However, cars destined to USA and Europe are
rated by local standards.
OB: Overboost
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General
remarks for specifications
Max
torque
For hybrid:
(engine torque) + (electric motor torque) = (combined torque)
lbft: pound-foot
EU prefers to use Nm.
100Nm
= 73.7lbft.
Japan prefers to use
kgm.
10kgm = 98.1Nm = 72.3lbft.
OB: Overboost
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General
remarks for specifications
Transmission
M = Manual transmission
AMT = Automated manual transmission: based on manual gearbox
but employs
automatic clutch and gearshift mechanism.
DCT = Dual-clutch / Twin-clutch
transmission: based on manual
gearbox but employs 2
automatic clutches to enable pre-selection of gears. Provides the same
functions of automated manual but in a smoother way.
A = Automatic gearbox: employs planetary
gears
and hydraulic
torque converter. May provide manual operation mode.
CVT: continuous variable transmission. May provide manual operation mode simulating a set of ratios.
Planetary CVT: use planetary gearset coupling to engine and electric
motors to vary the effective transmission ratio. See AutoZine Technical
School.
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General
remarks for specifications
Suspension
layout
see AutoZine
Technical School
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General
remarks for specifications
Suspension
features
Adaptive damping: either electronic or mechanical variable damping
Active anti-roll: uses electrohydraulic anti-roll bars to vary
anti-roll stiffness
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General
remarks for specifications
Kerb weight
As far as possible,
AutoZine
refers kerb weight to DIN kerb weight, i.e., car with all fluid and
fuel
tank
90% full, but without driver.
Most European car
makers
now quote only kerb weight according to new ECE (European) standard,
which
is DIN kerb weight + 75kg (68kg driver and 7kg luggage).
Many
journalists confuse DIN and ECE figures thus made wrong
comparison
between cars. For a fair comparison, AutoZine always converts ECE
figures into DIN. However, sometimes it is impossible to identify the
obtained
figures.
SAE (American) and
JIS (Japanese)
kerb weight seems to be different too - only half tank of fuel is
needed.
Otherwise same as DIN. This could be around 20-30kg lighter than DIN
for
most cars.
Some sports car
specialists
quote only dry weight, which is the car without any
fluid, fuel and driver. Generally this could be around 90-100kg lighter
than DIN.
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General
remarks for specifications
Top speed
mph: miles per hour.
1 mph
= 1.61 kph or km/h
(limited): refers to
electronically
regulated top speed
(c): claimed by
manufacturer
(est): estimated by
AutoZine
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General
remarks for specifications
0-60 mph
(sec)
(c): claimed by
manufacturer
(est): estimated by
AutoZine
American car
magazines prefer to allow a 1-foot roll off, which means the timer
starts ticking only after the car has overcome initial slippage and
passed the 1-foot distance. This explains why their figures are usually
a few tenths quicker than what European magazines recorded.
European mainlanders
prefer
to use 0-100km/h instead, which equals to 0-62.1mph. AutoZine converts
0-100kph
time to 0-60mph time by using the following approximation which is
based
on my statistics:
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0-100km/h
(sec)
|
0-60mph (sec)
|
|
x <= 4.2
|
x - 0.1
|
|
4.2 < x
<= 5.2
|
x - 0.2
|
|
5.2 < x
<= 6.9
|
x - 0.3
|
|
6.9 < x
<= 8.0
|
x - 0.4
|
|
8.0 < x
<= 9.2
|
x - 0.5
|
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9.2 < x
<= 10.8
|
x - 0.6
|
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General
remarks for specifications
0-100
mph
(sec)
As today's cars are much faster than
decades ago, 0-100 mph
has become a more
important
indicator to performance than 0-60 mph.
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