Et Cetera, et cetera, et cetera
Today’s Curbside Comparo introduced us to the world of unintentionally bad automotive acronyms, with the Cadillac Eldorado ETC (et. cetera) and ESC (Escape), along with the Lincoln Mark VII LSC (OK, I got nothing for this one).
I’ll kick things off with one more: The Subaru SVX, which I always thought kind of looks like SUX.
What other awesomely awkward automotive acronyms have you seen?
In addition to Ferrari and Pontiac using the abbreviation “GTO” there were several American station wagons and at least one minivan, that were unofficially known as GTOs, such as the Chrysler Town & Country GTO.
What was a Chrysler Town & Country GTO? While I don’t recall the exact product code, it featured the “Good Taste Option” which deleted the standard simulated woodgrain paneling on the sides.
In its home market, the Toyota Roadster known as the MR-2 Spyder over here was known as the MR-S. The perfect car for your wife?
Another play on the Pontiac 6000SE, from the original Robocop Film, the 6000SUX.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=robocop+6000+sux&&view=detail&mid=A0C9D1F7469681307D0EA0C9D1F7469681307D0E&rvsmid=A0C9D1F7469681307D0EA0C9D1F7469681307D0E&fsscr=0&FORM=VDMCNL
could have been the 6000LMAO.
It all started with them “furrin’ cars”! Bring back the limiteds, broughams, classics, and specials….and maybe in Ford’s place, the 500’s (i.e. Galaxie, Fairlane)! LOL!!
Cc Effect in full effect this morning… saw this parked outside my front door. Booted turd.
Has anyone mentioned the Prius PRV? All I read is “Perv”, as in pervert. Perhaps that model designation should be restricted to white cargo vans.
LOL. Now I’ll never be able to see one without thinking the same thing.
I know it’s not a abbreviation, and I’ve probably gone on this rampage here before, but the one automotive name that irks me above any other, past or present is “Enclave”. Ironically, I strongly prefer model NAMES to plain old alpha-numeric designations, but this one just grates my cheese. Enclave? So what? It takes a village to get you to work in the morning? I just don’t get it. I suppose I could find so may other more important things to get flustered over, bu every time I see one of these things on the street I get rattled. Foolishness.
I’ll see your Enclave and raise you with Murano…. every time I see one of these I wonder what the hell Nissan was thinking. It’s looks like an Italian word for moron.
It’s a type of Italian glassware. Fits the intended demographic – upwardly mobile housewives.
Thanks! I don’t know too many Italian words, so I was joking around a bit. Love the upwardly mobile housewife demographic reference. It totllay fits.
Actually, in the Baltimore area, the Nissan SUV that’s typically weaving in and out of traffic here as if driven by a moron, it the Rogue. I’ve seen some crazy stunts by ‘Rogue Drivers’ during rush hour.
Didn’t Pontiac or Cadillac have a “DIC” feature on the dashboard ?
Their name for it, not mine.
Self explanatory what the alternate meaning is.
Nowadays Audis and Infiniti SUVs have a DICK light. It lets you know you’re driving the vehicle correctly.
LOL
As a longtime Country radio personality, “ETC” always reminded me of 80’s artist Earl Thomas Conley.
But with that said…yes, naming something “ETC” is incredibly bad.
Not an acronym, but I always thought it was a good move on Toyota’s part to change the “Platz” to “Echo” for the NA market- “Platz” sounds like a the punchline to a Borscht Belt joke to me; “My granddaughter wanted a Celica for graduation, she coulda plotz when I got her a Platz!”
Seriously considering two chrome letters to add to my 05 ION trunk lid. “O” and “N”, so it’s nickname will be officially spelled out for everyone to see: “ONION”.
My four wheeled statement to the industry and their asinine alphanumeric naming systems
I was surprised the first time I saw a Sablegs, until I realized it was a Sable GS.
Well, I see that someone else was about 150 posts ahead of me with that one.
…and being a chemist, I always wondered why Saturn didn’t have Anion and Cation lines to go with Ion….
That’s what I think too, sort of. The other names Saturn had, Astra and Aura, already sound sciency. Had they brought over some more Opel products, I think it would’ve been a good idea to change some of their names to science-like names.
When first brought out, Dodge used SXT as a ‘young hip’ trim, with the logo looking like a record label. Was really a value package aimed at budget buyers. Example was 2003 era Durango SXT ads, with rock track with deep voiced guy going ‘get you one’.
Saab GOOSE.
I think “Scoupe” was a truly bizarre choice by Hyundai. I can’t even imagine what it signified.
Sport Coupe?
It actually wasn’t meant to be pronounced “S-coupe,” but rather “Scoop.”
How about the Cavalier VL – for value leader. With self-chalking unpainted bumpers!
[I always come in late] On the subject of “GT” cars,my understanding, based on years of R&T and Motor readings is that “Grand Tour” harkens back to at least the {English romantic] concept of “touring” the continent, initially with one’s own food supply [a small herd of cattle and/or swine [so you didn’t have to eat local], and then when foreign food was finally deemed safe to consume, in a swift, luxurious 2-seater with room for all your and milady’s clothes. THEN the nuancing began.The “fast-back” design was somehow deemed “more worthy” and the very most-worthy might just have been the Bentley Continental…
It’s not a bad designation, but I always found the Mercedes SEC label fitting, since only Securities and Exchange Commission types could afford them.
Make mine a Volvo V70 XC T5 AWD, please.
Or perhaps a Corolla S, where “Sport” meant “glue on trunk spoiler and over-sized ground effects.”
Or a CIVIC HF (High Fuel…as the economy model, shouldn’t it have been LF?)
And let’s not forget the ultra-exclusive JUKE R.
Said aloud, it sounds like the perfect vehicle to drive to synagogue on Saturday morning.
Reverse CC effect… Earlier today I was behind an original Sebring convertible and I was reminded what an odd trim level JXi was.
Nobody’s yet mentioned the Smart ForTwo ED which may not need to be filled with gas but perhaps does have a thirst for the diamond-shaped blue pills as shown in some recent Fiat commercials…
Also there are odd letter combos used on older Subarus and Mitsubishis that stray from common letters with common connotations, like in the ’70s Subaru’s top line hardtop coupe was the GLF