Learn Your Cars!

PART 1 (of I'm not sure how many; there may not even be a second part)

I know how it can be when you are hanging out with your car-savvy friends and a seemingly "cool" car drives by, and they all turn and drool.

You could care less.

But, still, it would be nice to have a little bit of car knowledge. At least so you don't look like an idiot when all your friends are staring at a Lexus and you, in a desperate attempt to fit in, say "Yeah, I love Mustangs!" So sad.

But do not fret! Several years ago, I was you. So I got help. And now I'm here to pass on the treasures of car knowledge that I have acquired.

So let's learn our cars!

The most important thing about knowing your cars is to know the make of it. While some of your car-whiz friends can get a sweeping glance of a car and tell you exactly what make and model it is, for us normal people, telling the make of the car is easiest when you can see the symbol of the maker. This can be found on the front AND the back of a car, so as long as you have a good view of either of those places, you're golden.

Now, the most popular makes:

Ford

Easy enough. If you are not close enough to read the actual letters, you can still see the blue oval.

Chevy

Looks familiar, huh? It won't always say CHEVROLET at the bottom, so don't let that be your only guide. But, the cross should be a dead giveaway, and it's not very hard to remember.

Volkswagon

Pretty easy once again. See the V on top of the W? Piece of cake!

BMW

This is often VERY small on the hoods of cars. Even though B, M, and W are clearly shown here, there's no way you'll see them on a real car unless you are standing right in front of it. Basically, if you see a small checkered circle, it's a BMW.

Mazda

See? It looks like an M! How clever. Not difficult to distinguish; this is usually pretty visible.

Pontiac

Usually Pontiacs just have the strange, upside-down arrow sort thing on them and no letters.

Chrysler

Similarly to Pontiacs, Chryslers most often just have this wingspan-like symbol on their cars.

Saturn

Saturns are pretty darn easy to point out because their logo is bright red. You can see one coming from a mile away!

Nissan

This is just one of those that you have to know the shape of. There's no way you will be able to read NISSAN on this symbol, even though it is on pretty much every car.

Dodge

This one is pretty recognizable. As with all the other logos with the names at the bottom, don't expect to see DODGE tacked onto every car.

Volvo

I provided the image of an actual car because this logo will truly have VOLVO written on it, and Volvos are the easiest to point out (in my opinion) because these cars always have a diagonal line of metal across the grill of the car. As seen.

Now, here are two tricky ones.

Honda v. Hyundia

It's so unfair. They both use H's for their symbols. It's almost like the just WANT to make it difficult. But never fear!

Honda

The straight, standing up H is Honda.

Hyundai

The slanty, strange H is Hyundai.

And, finally, for the hypothetical situation mentioned above:

Lexus

Not to be confused with a Mustang. ;)

But really, Mustangs are made by Ford. But it can be confusing because the Ford symbol does not appear on many Mustangs as I have provided it here.

If you see a Mustang, it will have this symbol instead:

So now, when your friends are talking about that awesome Lexus across the street, you can double check the car logo and be assured that they are indeed talking about a Lexus. And not a Mustang.

Well, that's about it for our first installment of "Learn Your Cars!" Let me know if I skipped over any important makes, and also, feel free to comment with suggestions/praise for learning your cars!