I was recently told that my knowledge for when it comes to car model knowledge is extremely insufficient. In my language of cars, there are four types. Van, regular, really small, and truck. I was hoping that you could give me some pointers on what car models are the more common, and how to differentiate between them.

Being familiar with some of the basics is a good thing, even if you're not a car enthusiast.

I can't claim any sort of expertise, I know what it is when I'm looking at it, but can't do a good job of explaining WHY a car is a sedan rather than a coupe- but to get you started-

Coupe--Closed car with two doors, and technically, less than 33 cubic feet of rear interior volume- term usually applies to any two door car with a joke for a back seat.

Sedan- can have two or four doors, has a decent sized back seat and a trunk seperate from the passenger compartment.

SUV- tricky one- the smaller ones are also being called "crossovers" recently- these vehicles can be massive (Hummer, Escalade, Explorer) or quite tiny (Xterra, Forrester)
Typically the have either 4 wheel drive or all wheel drive and the rear seats can be folded down or removed altogether to maximize cargo space.

Sports car- generally more for performance than for comfort, they are usually little, low slung, two door bits of automotive jewelery- fast, responsive, a serious power to weight ratio and I don't want you getting one until you've been driving for at least 10 years.

Trucks- a closed cab, possibly with a bit of stowage space or even a real back seat and an open cargo area in the rear- other than the closed cab and open bed, there is a lot of variation in trucks- they come in 2 and 4 wheel drive, can be small, medium, large or freaking HUGE, and often have optional suspension upgrades to maximize towing capacity- I LOVE my truck.


AutoTrader.com offers this glossary It is a little "in depth" but you might find it interesting.

very good mrsS youve been doing home work

Thanks, DC- I love cars, I'm just not all that fluent in the language.

Here is the rough guide to the British method of talking about the sort of cars on our roads and the odd looking Hybrids

Ok at the Bottom we have the City cars Like the Smart Mini and those small cars from Japan and Italy can Be also called Microcars or Minicars which are very popular in France and Italy with young people
Here is most of the Models that are on sale in Europe at the Moment (many more dotted around the site (no English translation) but you can make out what is what

Note Most of the Vehicles above have an engine just over 500 cc big!

Ok with that?

Next come the commonest class of car Can call them saloons but they do have sporty variants Such as the VW Golf and they have the nickname Hot Hatch from the ubiquitious 1 piece lifting rear door to streamline the body shape

Thare are also some body varieties on older cars twhich the North Americans call then Station wagons You can fold the Back sest all down and you can get more Luggage in .We In the Uk call these "estates" and there is a class that I've never seen in any Pictures in the US nor TV/Movies yet they are common here and the is the small Van (based on a car cheapo way of making them used to be take an estate car body and not cut out the rear windows fit trim and sell it that way (with a low powered engine fitted Can get away with calling that a van


Moving to the Next size are the largest cars and You can call them Family or Luxury cars if it looks fast people can accept sporty

Now the Car like the Renault Espace which can tak a lot of people Often used as a taxi .People carrier is a good enough term

Without going on up to Lorries (Heavy Goods Vehicles )
there is those Big vans that you see every where Is debatable but worth asking are the called Transits from the Original van truck pick up in the Uk still being bult in 2007 The first one rolled off the UK assembly line in 1965