Help us create an auto-vocabulary

I’ve also heard GMC’s referred to as Great Mountain Climbers! C):slight_smile:

My Priupism is valid, but it is not manifested by driving at 55mph in the left lane. On my regular commutes between Cleveland and Columbus OH I have had to resort to some short 105mph bursts in my Prius – in the right lane – because the two or three lanes of I-71 to the left of me were clogged with SUVs going 60mph.

MALIBUBOO: “MAL” because our '98 Malibu was always sick; B(OO)BOO because several engineers made mistakes in their design of this car. Every year for the six years we owned the car we needed to replace a $90.00 heating and air-conditioning selector knob due to what the dealer claimed was a faulty resistor. Once the entire dashboard fried, taking the doorlocking mechanism with it and locking me in the car (I could have named the car Christine!). Disc rotors routinely warped and the dealer said they could not be machined. After one of the dealer oil-changes the car smelled for years as if hot oil was soaked into the carpets. We replaced this car with our first Prius and it has had five years and 60,000 trouuble-free miles.

Mini-Coupee - (rhrymes with toupee) The midlife crisis belief that driving a Mini Cooper makes you look younger.

Toy-uh-oh - the feeling you get when you find out your pride and joy Toyota has been recalled

Autotopsy - Examination of a vehicle to determine cause of death

Don’t fret. We all have a little ‘PriusEnvy’

PriusEnvy (n) - Insecurity about the length of our mileage.

Saab Story: self explanatory

HUMMERous- The urge to laugh when you look at a Hummer owner’s gas receipts.

AUDIacity- You spent how much on that?!

aPORSCHEinment- The number of mechanics to a porche based on how many problems happened at once.

“Esso-Asso” The folks who cut through the gas station on the corner to avoid the red light.

crack opinion steering: dangerous meandering down the road while listening to talk radio.

Jeff Schneider, Ellenville, NY

How about:

Indican’tor: Inability to discover the whereabouts of the turn signal controls.

Parking Lots: Using several spaces for your SUV

Hair conditioning: What happens when you open the Moon Roof.

Accord-ian: car with active crumple zones.

Vice-Versa: Un-natural behavior in a Nissan

And BMW’s as Big Money Wasters.

Prius-isting Condition (n) - The discovery that the used hybrid you just bought has been recalled for bad brakes. See also Toyotal Recall.

Toyotal Recall (n) - Suddenly remembering that you wanted to take your car in for service at the Toyota Dealer, but realizing that now you’ll be waiting until next year due to all the cars coming in for accelerator and brake fixes.

-Steve Schaefer of Sunnyvale, CA

Gatorphobia, the fear of tail gaters.
Fordaphile, lover of fords, usually includes,
Chevitis, haters of chevys.
blowby, refers to 90 mph drivers in a 65 zone.
sometimes used in a sentence such as, "There goes Parnelli Jones in his shiny red blowby."
Torquehead, someone suffering from a condition of unexplained road rage.

Elantric - The surprising and pleasing feeling you get when you buy an inexpensive Korean car because you can’t afford anything better, and then it goes on to be utterly reliable for more years than you expected.

Snaabs (n.)-- drivers who look down their noses at cars NOT designed by Swedish aircraft engineers

4-wheel dri-icus
The discovery that on ice, 4 wheel drive doesn’t matter when you have no friction.