How to speak cars?

Car Body Types

  • Cars come in different shapes and those shapes matter

    • Sedans → classic 4 door cars with a trunk

    • Copues → like Sedans usually sportier and with 2 doors

    • SUVs → Taller, bigger, great for families or offroading

    • Hatchbacks → Small car with trunk that opens up with the rear window

    • Pick up trucks → built to haul stuff

    • Wagons → mix of sedan and suv more space but not as big as an suv

    • Super car and hyper car → high performance machines

Car Engines

  • CC = Cubic centimetre, means how big your engine is

    • Think of it like soda bottles less L is smaller bottle, bigger engine is more power it usually has

  • Horsepower = Speed and Power of engine to determine how fast your car can go

  • Torque the muscle of engine

    • if horsepower is how fast can go then torque is the push to get it moving

  • RPM shows how fast the engine is spinning

    • more rpm means more power but more fuel being burned

    • keeping rpm in check is a good idea

    • how much effort the car is putting in

  • Turbocharged engine forces in extra air, more air means more fuel can burn which gives more power without the engine being bigger

    • usually engine breaths in air on its own

    • lessentially ike an energy boost

Transmission → Decides how power is sent

  • Engine like muslce that generates muscle if you don’t use right form all the strength is wasted

  • The transmission ensures engine power is transferred to the wheels in the best possible way

  • Manual is old school, shift gear yourself using clutch pedal and gear stick.

  • Automatic does gear shifting automatically, smoother for stop and go traffic

    • traditional uses a torque converter that switches gears smoothly

    • CVT (continuously variable transmission) don’t have fixed gears they just adjust power smoothly like a sliding scale

    • DCTS (Dual-clutch transmission) shifts gears fast making them great for sports cars

Drive Train → Where the power goes

  • RWD (rear wheel drive)

    • pushes the car from the back wheels

    • great for performance cars

    • better balance and handling

    • in rain or surface with less traction as their is no weight over the back wheels

  • FWD (front wheel drive)

    • most everyday cars are this

    • so engine sends power only to the front wheels (pulls from the front)

    • cheaper to make, more fuel efficient, works well in normal driving conditions

    • if floor it then steering wheel goes wild due to torque steer

  • AWD

    • automatically sends power to all 4 wheels when needed giving better grip in worse conditions

    • not very fuel efficient

    • heavier as well

  • 4WD

    • like AWD but designed for offroading sending power equally to all 4 wheels

Braking & Handling → Staying in control

  • ABS (Anti-lock braking system)

    • instead of wheels locking up and turning car into a sled, ABS pulses the brakes super fast to help maintain control instead of skidding

    • stops wheel from locking up

  • Brake Fade

    • When brakes overheat and don’t work as well

    • Hotter they get less effective they become

  • Discs

    • metal rotors that get clamped by brake pads to slow you down

    • better than drum brakes

  • Drum brakes

    • work like hand drum with brake shoes pressing outwards to slow the wheel

    • cheaper but not as good as cooling down

    • hard toimmediately brake in higher speeds

Traction Control & Stability Control → Stopping in time

  • TC prevents wheels from spinning too much when accelerating

    • if flooring on wet pavement and car hesistates then TC stops wheels from just spinning in place

  • SC

    • if car slides then automatically applies brake to individual wheels to help keep car on track and not spin out.

Fuel efficeincy & Maintenance Basics

  • L/km thats only under perfect conditions of flat roads, no traffic, no AC

    • actual depends on if you are easy on the gas pedal instead of flooring, accelerate smoothly

    • Check tire pressure, lower tire pressure results in more resistance and more L/km

    • remove uneccesary weight in the car

  • Maintain by oil changes

    • overtime oil gets dirty thick and bad for the car (usually every 5,000-7,000km)

  • Air filters so engine can breathe in air to burn air efficiently

  • Brake pads if feel soft then get them checked

  • Dead battery

    • most batteries last 3-5 years