Harley Owners Group

Car makers and dealers are always throwing out fancy terms to try and make their products sound better. If you have ever gone shopping for a car you have probably been hit by a bunch of terms you don't know much about. Words like drive train, suspension and antilock brakes all sound impressive but what do they really mean? Well, never fear, for we are here to help you out a little. Here are some common car words defined.

Horsepower is a term you hear all the time. The real definition is a bit complicated but suffice it to say, it's roughly the max amount of power one horse can create in a given amount of time. A more specific definition is around 750 watts. What you need to know is the more horsepower (hp) the faster you can go. High end sports car like an Aston Martin may boast an amazing 700 hp. Muscle cars can be anywhere from the 500-600 hp range. Your average sedan on the road will probably have anywhere from 160- 275, give or take some for different engine types. Come to used vehicles today.

Directly linked to horsepower are the terms "cylinders" "pistons" and "liters", as in a 4 cylinder 3.3 liter engine. Every car has pistons that pump up and down inside a cylinder, so having 4 pistons means having 4 cylinders. As the pistons pump up and down they suck air into the cylinders, which will be mixed with gasoline to create the combustion needed to make the energy to move your car. "Liter," refers to the volume of air the cylinders can suck in during a cycle. So a 3.2 liter engine takes in 3.2 liters of air per cycle. A four cylinder engines means it has four cylinder and thus, four pistons. This all effects how much energy is produced by the gasoline combustion. The average car is a 4 or 6 cylinder engine. Muscle cars and sports cars are usually 8 cylinders but some can get up to 10 or 12. Rolls Royce is famous for the V12 engines, which brings us to the term V.

People drool over V8 engine but the question is why? What does it mean? The number after the V is equal to how many pistons the engine has. The V simply refers to the special physical arrangement of the pistons. They are in a V pattern as opposed to inline or staggered patterns. This is important because the V shape optimized power and lowers overall engine length and weight. Almost all sports cars and race cars are V8 engines.

When you break it all down it's not so bad after all. To be sure there here are other factors as that go into the car engines such as piston configuration and air to gasoline ratios but most people will never need to deal with such issues. That being said, stay tuned for our next part.