good motoring
The long and short of it
H. Kishie Singh

THE first ABC of motoring and safe driving is—A for airbags, B for buckle up and C for children in the back seat. It is horrifying to see a driver with a child in his lap and driving. A slight collision and the driver will get thrown forward and the child will be crushed between the steering wheel and his body weight. In most countries abroad children below eight are not allowed to sit in the front. Infants must have child seats. There are many other abbreviations. Some we are used to like rpm—revolutions per minute. This refers to the speed your engine is turning over. Idling speed would be around 800-900 rpm for most cars.

If you have an rpm counter, known as a tachometer, there will be a red band at the top end of the tachometer. This could be around 6,500 to 7,000 rpm, depending on your car. Danger! Do not go above the red line. To go into the red line could damage your engine. So be careful.

HP means horse power, which is usually the cubic capacity of your engine. If your car is 1600 cc or 1.6 litre, it is considered to be 16 hp. While we are discussing cubic capacity or cc, it is worthwhile to know what is this and how it is arrived at. It is the bore (the diameter of the cylinder) multiplied by the stroke (length of the piston) multiplied by the number of cylinders. In the beginning there were rear-wheel drive cars—RWD. Most cars today are FWD — front-wheel drive. Jeeps and Gypsies are 4WD — four-wheel drive or AWD —all-wheel drive.

Then we have some SUVS that are 4WD or AWD. What's the difference? In a 4WD the driver has the option to select two-wheel drive or four-wheel drive plus high and low-gear ratio. In an AWD the driver has no option. The car can runs in 4WD mode all the time. It may have high or low option.

We just mentioned SUV. What's that? Each manufacturer has his own description but usually it is a rather large vehicle like Mahindra Scorpio, Ford Endeavour, Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara, Honda CRV and the like. It means sports utility vehicle. Then we have an MUV, multi utility vehicle and MAV or multi activity vehicle. The difference here is six to half a dozen. These are nomenclatures and used by manufacturers to impress and confuse prospective buyers. SRV is a sports recreational vehicle. Some cars are TDI , TDCI , CDI , CRDI . They all mean the same thing — common rail direct injection. TD means turbo diesel. All these letters apply to diesel engines only.

The point is Mercedes is not going to use the same nomenclature as Ford. Ford is not going to use the letters used by Hyundai. Every manufacturer wants a separate identity. That's all. Some technical specifications may have the description remote controlled ORVM. That's outside rear view mirror. VTEC is an abbreviation for variable valve in electronically controlled. Previously the tuning was set on your car engine and it was fixed tuning to make sure the spark plugs fired on time. In actual fact a cold engine needs tuning different from when it's at the optimum operating temperature. The ECM, electronic control module, makes sure that the tuning is perfect, whether the engine is cold or hot. Front-wheel drive cars do not have a differential. To help them go around corners they have constant velocity joints—CVJ. Cars have a gear box, which has a set of fixed gear ratios. Automatic gear boxes do away with the clutch but the gear ratio is still fixed.

Some cars and most notably the kinetic scooter has a continously variable transmission—CVT. As the name implies, the gear ratio is not fixed but varies according to driving conditions. ABS is antilock braking system. In severe braking conditions the brakes have a tendency to lock and throw the car into a skid. If your car has ABS, the brakes will not lock, provided you brake perfectly, in a straight line.

EBDF — electronic brake distribution force. When a car brakes while cornering, there is more weight on two wheels. Same is the case if you brake when two wheels are in the gravel and two on tarmac. This leads to uneven braking, leading to a skid.

Cars that are assembled in India with imported components have SKD units — semi-knocked down. Cars that are manufactured abroad and imported are CBU — competely built units. Get used to these abbreviations. They will help you to understand your car better.

Happy motoring.