Nickname Clarification For Car Designs

by "VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
Published 01/18/2017 at 13:23

Tags: beetle ; clownshow ; longnose ; wedge
STARS: 1

Can someone help me get a little more illuminated on the layman monikers for the current car designs out there? It’s clumsy to say FR or Front mid or Mid rear or rear and then have to clarify, and also, it’s not entirely apt as it’s about bodywork, really, which the drivetrain layout correlates to but won’t correlate 100%.

Front mid engine - I’ve been calling them long noses, but there has to be a better term, like the M Coupe Clownshoe. Can we call them all clownshoes or should we call them running shoes? What’s the design nickname for long nose engine behind the front wheels?

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Rear mid engine - for lack of a better term, I call them wedges, but that hasn’t really been true since the 90's. They’re shapely wedges now. Artisanal wedges? What do you call them?

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And this is clearly a Beetle so no worries there.

Replies (17)

"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
01/18/2017 at 13:35, STARS: 1

I’m not aware of any special terminology for a car’s engine placement other than explicitly stating where it is in relation to the cabin and the axles. Front engine would imply the engine is ahead of the cabin and ahead of the front axle. Front-mid engine would imply that the engine is ahead of the cabin but behind the front axle (ie Honda S2000, Panoz GTR, etc.). That’s how I’ve always referred to them.

“Clown shoe” is a nickname given by the enthusiasts, as the Z3 M in profile vaguely resembles a clown’s shoe. Same with “wedge,” and so on.

"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/18/2017 at 13:40, STARS: 0

So, if you would make some up, what would you call them?

"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
01/18/2017 at 13:42, STARS: 2

Front engined cars are tractors.

Front mid engined cars are dildos.

Rear mid engined cars are something.

Rear engined cars are widowmakers.

"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/18/2017 at 13:44, STARS: 0

I like the idea of having a mid engine exotic going by and just going, “well isn’t that something?”

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
01/18/2017 at 13:53, STARS: 1

I honestly see only two categories for a car’s engine placement: front and rear. Midship is just a sub-category; the engine is still either forward or aft of the passenger cabin. (Yeah, I know that cab-forward places the cabin is on top of the engine, but the engine is still in the front.) To me, front-mid-engine is just a variety of front-engine. Ditto for rear.

Drivetrains are simple, too. FWD or RWD. If the car is AWD, it’s usually based on one of those two setups thanks to the addition of a transfer case to an existing 2WD layout.

So in my mind, cars are (at their core) either FR (front engine, RWD), FF, RR, or the rare RF. I find these acronyms elegant, (but I’m not entirely satisfied with how it overlooks AWD.)

(Of course, EVs make things more complicated. While the location of the powered wheels is still significant, the “engine” is the battery, and while the Volt is a bit biased towards the rear, Tesla favors the whole floor, bringing the layout to a more true midship arrangement.)

"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/18/2017 at 14:01, STARS: 0

For AWD, FA and RA could be used, or the clumsier FFR and RRF which are a little onomatopeic. I doubt they’ll take, though, the terms kind of sound like farts.

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
01/18/2017 at 14:10, STARS: 0

Yeah, FA and RA sound logical. I’ve just never heard anyone use them before. It’d be nice if they caught on.

Ultimately, I think that the location of the drive wheels is a far more important factor to categorize cars by than engine placement. The real reason that engine placement matters is weight, which is why it’s best to have it in the middle of the car.

Of course, the middle of the car is the prime location for passengers too, so if it can’t be packaged like an EV’s battery, compromises have to be made.

"RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht" (ramblininexile)
01/18/2017 at 14:17, STARS: 0

TIL I have two dildos.

"DrScientist" (DrScientist)
01/18/2017 at 14:39, STARS: 0

2 garages too?

"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/18/2017 at 14:46, STARS: 0

While I am enjoying this thread, I’m actually trying to lock down a good way of describing the various car design shapes. The post was precipitated by a chat about the merits of having a wedge design, which caused a bit of confusion when I started linking modern supercars.

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
01/18/2017 at 14:57, STARS: 0

Ah, gotcha.

You got my wheels a-turning, though. I think I’m going to have to get my thoughts together and do a post on the topic.

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
01/18/2017 at 15:14, STARS: 0

Yeah, I got distracted by the whole powertrain layout thing.

Focusing on the bodywork, it might be best to group them into broad categories, and have sub-categories to organizer the finer design aspects.

I’m not sure where to start, though. It has to be something very basic. I wonder if open-wheel design should get its own category, or maybe we should start by separating everything into coupes, sedans, etc.? (Do 4-door open-wheel cars exist?)

"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/18/2017 at 15:18, STARS: 0

We can probably ignore the 4 door open wheel cars, considering most open wheel cars are bereft of doors altogether.

Right now long-nose and wedge are my two preferreds, but they’re hardly ubiquitous.

"Urambo Tauro" (urambotauro)
01/18/2017 at 15:28, STARS: 1

Wedge is a really good name, but it probably shouldn’t be constrained to just two-door cars. After all, I consider the Prius to be a wedge, (particularly the second-gen and later models) even though it’s certainly no supercar.

Long-noses might require a mathematical definition since there’s all shapes and sizes out there...

But that’s only if you’re looking for formal definitions to classify cars. Are you looking for something more along the lines of unofficial nicknames? You mentioned “layman monikers”, but I might be getting in too deep here.

"AntiSpeed" (AntiSpeed)
01/18/2017 at 15:29, STARS: 0

Beetles have their engines in the front now though :(

"VajazzleMcDildertits - read carefully, respond politely" (vajazzlemcdildertits)
01/18/2017 at 15:58, STARS: 0

I’ll go along with any formal definitions, but I’ll take popularly accepted terms. Right now I can’t find authoritative sources either way, just a regular old mishmash of terms.

"EL_ULY" (uly)
01/18/2017 at 17:00, STARS: 1

Miss Mercedes drives a Beetle :]