If that title were to more accurately reflect the nature of this article, it would be, “AAAA.” Â That would be adding a fair dose of alliteration to the abbreviation, which isn’t such a bad thing. Although completely unnecessary for understanding this post, my father the teacher would insist on a simple grammar lesson.
Acronyms and abbreviations are different items. Â OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a word formed from the initial letters of a group. Â O-P-E-C becomes a pronouncable word. CBC, or Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is a simple abbreviation. Â The pronunciation is completed by simply spelling out the letters, C-B-C. Â But I digress… terribly.
Read through Car&Driver, MotorTrend, Edmunds.com, or even GoodCarBadCar, and the common reader (or writer) must fight through numerous automotive acronyms and abbreviations. Just how many per spec sheet? Â GoodCarBadCar is completing a website review and the results are interesting. First, a luxury sport-ute.
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BMW X5 4.8i
Before we can even start the acro/abbrev search inside the X5’s Features and Specs tab, BMW lays one on thick. Â The header lists the X5 as a SAV – that’s sport-activity vehicle, BMW’s favourite nomenclature for the vehicles we all call SUV’s, sport-utes, crossovers, 4×4’s, or tall wagons. Continuing down the page, here’s what you find:
Under standard features, the following…..
Double-VANOS: this is BMW’s terminology for a system that modifies the position of the intake camshaft as it relates to the crankshaft, in essence providing a better spread of power through the rev range.
DSC: Dynamic Stability Control
DTC: Dynamic Traction Control
(BMW ignores the potential usage of DBC and DCCÂ and lists Dynamic Brake Control and Dynamic Cruise Control instead)
HDC: Hill Descent Control
Under packages & options and specifications, BMW uses complete words. Â There are a couple abbreviations, like SRS, that are typical across the industry. Â Representative of our era, the main X5 4.8i overview page lists RTTI (real time traffic information) as well as USB and HD. Â
Next up, a luxury sedan from Mercedes-Benz. Â Oh, but wait, we forgot one….
BMW: Bayerische Motoren Werke
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