Japanese equivalents?

[92accordlxtuner]

Originally posted by deevergote
Yeah, I've heard of the Cappucino... I think it might actually be in a Gran Turismo game perhaps. I wonder if the Italian reference is to stress the concept of a small roadster (similar to many Itialian designs...)

I LOVE how the Japanese makes have real names instead of numbers. I don't understand what the American fascination with numbers is! Why does something have to be names CTP558 for it to be luxurious? I like and understand the numbers when they represent the engine size, but the letters are worthless to me. What the hell is a TL? What does it mean?


On a side note regarding the letter names... The Chrysler LHS actually had some meaning behind the letters. I'm not sure if it was actually named LHS because of this, or if this came from the name, but here it is: LHS stood for "Last Hope Sedan". Chrysler was doing well with minivans, but the big sedans were becoming a thing of the past. They hoped the LHS would be the savior... It kinda sucked as a car, but I guess it worked!

for lexuses, the letters actually mean something...ex SC=sport coupe...ES=Econo Sedan...LS=Luxury Sedan...

[deevergote]

Awesome. I didn't know that!

I guess I'll be able to understand them a bit more now! I always knew the numbers usually had something to do with the engine size (as it is with Honda) but I never knew about the letter designation meaning anything.


Man, that kinda takes ALL identity away from those cars! I'd MUCH rather have a Soarer (something with a name) than an SC 430, if all that means is "Sport Coupe with a 4.3L engine"!

That'd be like changing my name from Mike to WM511 (White Male 5'11") No identity at all!

[92accordlxtuner]

Originally posted by deevergote
Awesome. I didn't know that!


That'd be like changing my name from Mike to WM511 (White Male 5'11") No identity at all!

lol...i guess im off the same assemly line... im a WM511 too...except i have leather! luxury edition baby!

as for the soarer, its logo is a hot Peugot lookin lion...u know one of those medeival scraching lions thats standing upright on 2 feet!


"Mike WM511...SHIFT_excitement!"*
*luxury sport and touring edition available 11/15/04

[92accordlxtuner]

yo deev...where in NJ u from....i live in between passaic n paterson!

[uncle_el]

more random info...
lexus stands for luxury export to united states.

sick camber and wide ass wheels on an infiniti q45, aka cima:

[AccordWarrior]

Originally posted by uncle_el
more random info...
lexus stands for luxury export to united states.

sick camber and wide ass wheels on an infiniti q45, aka cima:

...and I was worried about my +35 offsets maybe rubbing.

[uncle_el]

Originally posted by AccordWarrior
...and I was worried about my +35 offsets maybe rubbing.

lmao.

toyota crown athlete (similar to our toyota avalon, except this one aesthetically looks better, is rwd, and has better performance)

[deevergote]

Man Elliot... you find the sweetest cars

And is that Lexus thing true, or is it like Ford's "Found on road dead" thing that people say to be funny?

[uncle_el]

an article from money/cnn.com earlier this year, about names vs. acronyms in cars:
http://money.cnn.com/2004/09/07/pf/a..._name_decoder/

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Remember when cars had names? Evocative, sometimes powerful, sometimes way off the mark, like Mustang, New Yorker, Bonneville and Capri. They meant something, or at least were easy to remember.

Good old fashioned names are still with us, of course, and new ones -- like Cobalt and Freestyle -- are still being introduced. But many luxury car companies have given up on naming their babies altogether, preferring alpha-numeric nomenclature systems that take the guesswork and focus groups out of deciding what to call a new model.

"It's only the luxury brands that have the luxury of using alphanumerics," said Jim Singer, president of NameBase, a marketing company that has helped create names for some Kia, Suzuki and Renault cars. The implication: a flashy car can sell itself.

Acura, starting in 1995, went from using names like Integra and Vigor for its cars to using combinations of two and three consonants like RL and TSX.

"We would rather have more emphasis on the Acura brand," said Chris Naughton, a company spokesman.

Singer is no fan of alphanumerics for car names.

"You're missing a huge opportunity to communicate more about the vehicle," he said.

Is it fast? Is it rugged? Is it big and comfy? Who knows?

Still, while those serial-number car names may look like someone threw a spoonful of chrome-plated alphabet soup at a car's deck-lid, they really do have meaning. Yes, 530i really does have a story to tell.

These are general rules, by the way, and there are some exceptions.

BMW
BMW's numbering system is fairly simple. Numbers, usually odd numbers, indicate the relative size and expense of cars. Everyone has heard of BMW's 3-series, 5-series and 7 series cars. In Europe, BMW sells the bargain-priced 1-series.

The next two digits indicate engine size. The BMW 325i has a 2.5 liter engine. The BMW 330i has a 3.0 liter engine.

The letter i is a holdover from times when fuel injection was something to brag about rather than something you would find in even run-of-the-mill economy cars. In Europe, where BMW sells diesel-powered cars, one can also see the 325d on the road.

Sometimes two letters appear after the number, as in the 325Ci and 325Xi. The first letter indicates a special type, as with the two-door 325Ci coupe or the all-wheel drive 325Xi.


Lexus
Let's take, for example, the Lexus LS 430. The second letter in any Lexus car's name indicates the body style. An S is a sedan, an X is a sport/utility vehicle and a C is a convertible. The 3-digit number is based on the engine size in liters. So the LS 430 has a 4.3 liter engine, and a GS 300 has a 3.0 liter engine.

The first letter in a Lexus name indicates the relative size and cost of the car. The higher in the alphabet the letter is, the higher the price. For some reason -- a Toyota spokesman wasn't sure why -- the R SUVs are an exception to this particular rule. They are actually the least expensive Lexus SUVs.

Saab
Every car Saab makes has a name that starts with the number 9. The 9 simply means "this is not a military vehicle."

When the company was founded in the 1930s, Saab was an acronym for Swedish Aircraft, Ab (the Swedish equivalent of Inc.) After World War II, while Saab was still strictly an airplane company, it was decided that all civilian projects should be given numbers starting with 9. The Saab 90 and 91 were civilian aircraft.

Saab's next project was a car. Since it was not a military vehicle, the car was given the number 92. Since the numbers always had to start with 9 it didn't take too long before Saab was into three-digit, then four-digit, car names.

In 1998 came the car that would have been the Saab 90,000. At that point, Saab went back to double digits, but the numbers were now separated. In ordinary text, the numbers are written with a hyphen in between, like this: 9-5. On the back of a Saab, the second digit is offset in a slightly different typeface.

As with BMWs, the second number indicates the relative size and price of the vehicle. If it's followed by an X, as with the 9-2X, that means it has all-wheel drive.

Acura
Acura's two- and three-letter combinations mean absolutely nothing. They're just completely made-up combinations of letters.

One exception that rule -- or lack of one -- predates Acura's overall move to letters. When the Acura NSX sports car was in development in the 1980s that name stood for New Sports Experimental.


Cadillac
Cadillac has dispensed with names like Seville and Deville, replacing them with three-letter combinations like STS and DTS. For those with fond memories of those old names, the first letter remains. The STS is the modern descendant of the old Cadillac Seville and the DTS is the rough equivalent of the Deville.

The C in CTS, Cadillac's entry-level model, has no particular meaning. (It's Cadillac's naming scheme and they get to decide what things stand for, so it doesn't stand for Catera, either.) The letters TS stand for "touring sedan." For the performance version of the CTS, the company added a V to create the CTS-V.

The XLR, a two-seat convertible, is the "luxury roadster" of the X series.

Otherwise, an X on a Cadillac stands for "crossover." The RX in the name of Cadillac's SRX SUV stands for "reconfigurable crossover."

Cadillac is in the process of doing away with the Escalade name on its SUVs but hasn't quite gone all the way yet. For now, each Escalade model has a 3-letter addendum on its name: EXV for the crossover version and ESV for the performance version.


Mercedes
The letters in front of Mercedes car names, like E320, indicate the "class." Sedans are C, for the least expensive, E or S, for the most expensive. SUVs are M or the more exclusive G. Convertibles are, in order of expense, the SLK, CLK and SL.

Like BMW, Mercedes scrapes the bottom of the alphabetical barrel in its home continent selling the A-class which is not available here.

The three numbers indicate engine size. An E320 has a 3.2 liter engine, for example.

Originally posted by deevergote
And is that Lexus thing true, or is it like Ford's "Found on road dead" thing that people say to be funny?

i heard that from a toyota aristo owner from malaysia. toyota sells under the lexus name in the u.s. alone. but i cannot find any reputable source stating that lexus is an acronym... so perhaps it's just an urban legend of sorts.

[deevergote]

The Lexus thing kinda makes sense, considering how practical their alphanumeric designations are...

That article made me sad... It seems that the luxury lines are moving TOWARD the alphanumerics, not away. Such a shame!


I know it's beating a dead horse by now, but I gotta say it... I'd rather have a Silvia over a 240SX with the same engine... (the 240 has the 2.4L engine over here, am I right?)


Names are good. Oddly enough, I've been calling the alphanumerics meaningless, when it's really the other way around! The LS 430 says something, whereas Celsior means nothing.

[uncle_el]

infiniti q45 = nissan cima

newest generation (f50)




previous generation (y33)

[uncle_el]

lexus gs 300/400 = toyota aristo





mercedes benz e class = same
this is vip style (the majority of what i post in this thread) to the extreme... definitely not for the faint of heart!

[uncle_el]

toyota previa = toyota estima









fabulous





final konnexion




garson


kenstyle (this is their closest to vip)




topline





junction produce

[deevergote]

I have never wanted a minivan more in my life!

And just for price reference, move the decimal over two places to convert Yen to USD... That's a $690 bumper!

[uncle_el]

I have never wanted a minivan more in my life!

And just for price reference, move the decimal over two places to convert Yen to USD... That's a $690 bumper!

minivans are apparently popular in japan.

there's the option van magazine, which is pretty hot. i also found another that was dedicated soley to the honda oddyssey... the magazine was way too pricey ($30+), but from what i saw, it was very hot.

i've become a fan of the vip style, and that may be the next step... a few years down the line.

? = toyota alphard (not sure if it's the equivalent of the toyota siena or not... it doesn't appear to be)



scion xa = toyota ist









doesn't exist here, but would be a lexus ls 400 wagon = toyota celsior wagon