Glossary

4WD: Short for four wheel drive. 4WD is used most often with trucks, signalling the ability to put a car from two wheel drive into four wheel drive. The benefits of 4WD is that both the front and rear tires are powered by the drivetrain, which increases traction and pulling ability by distributing the work among each tire. 

4WD, High: Commonly referred to as four high, this term means putting a 4WD vehicle into a high gear, meant for higher speed travel. Most applications of 4WD are in four high, like towing, driving in the snow or on rough terrain. 

4WD, Low: Commonly referred to as four low, this term means putting a 4WD vehicle into a low gear, for slower speed travel and towing of heavy objects or serious off-roading. A vehicle in four low is limited in speed, but has lots of power available.

AWD: Short for all wheel drive. AWD means that both the front and rear tires are powered by the drive train, which helps increase traction in slippery environments like rain or snow – to a degree. Most cars that come with AWD are either SUV or sports cars. AWD is different than 4WD because AWD is always on, while cars with 4WD can be switched to 2WD on demand.

Bondo: A cheap, putty-like substance that is used to fill up body dents and damage. Most often used in a deragatory manner, such as: “Avoid the snake oil salesman selling you that bondo car.”

Coup: Two door, passenger vehicle.

F&I: Short for finance and insurance and almost always used when referring to a F&I manager at a car dealership. The F&I manager is the final salesman in the car buying process whose job is sell customers profitable financing options and warranties. A “good” F&I manager can be a major source of profit for an auto dealer. 

Fleet Manager: An auto dealer manager whose job is to manage car sales for large volume buyers and companies. Fleet managers do not work the lot and do most of their deals over the phone and fax. Most fleet managers move their inventory by offering quotes and bids to buyers, which is why fleet sales are often much closer to invoice than direct sales. 

Gears, High: High gears are often referred to as 4th through 6th gears on a car. Cars are able to travel faster at higher gears, but do not necessarily have more torque or power while in higher gears. 

Gears, Low: Low gears are those from 1st through 3rd. Low gears 

MPG: Short for miles per gallon. Used as a measure of a car’s gasoline efficiency. MPGs above 30 are considered efficient while under 20 MPG is low. 

RPM: Short for revolutions per minute. RPM measures the engine revolutions and is shown in the tachometer gauge in most dash cluters. As a rule, as a car engine increases in RPM, so does torque. Most modern cars top out at about 7,000 to 8,000 RPM, though some specific sports cars top out over 9,000 RPM. 

Sedan: Four door passenger vehicle.