If that title were to more accurately reflect the nature of this article, it would be, “AAAA.” 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. OPEC, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is a word formed from the initial letters of a group. O-P-E-C becomes a pronouncable word. CBC, or Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, is a simple abbreviation. The pronunciation is completed by simply spelling out the letters, C-B-C. 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? 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. 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 DCC and lists Dynamic Brake Control and Dynamic Cruise Control instead)
HDC: Hill Descent Control
Under packages & options and specifications, BMW uses complete words. There are a couple abbreviations, like SRS, that are typical across the industry. Representative of our era, the main X5 4.8i overview page lists RTTI (real time traffic information) as well as USB and HD.
Next up, a luxury sedan from Mercedes-Benz. Oh, but wait, we forgot one….
BMW: Bayerische Motoren Werke
