Welcome, traveler, to the world of automobiles.History tells us a steam-powered vehicle may have been invented as early as 1672. However, the automobile we know today didn't get its beginnings until 1878, when Karl Benz (of Daimler-Benz and Mercedes-Benz fame) patented the internal combustion engine. The first automobile was the Benz Patent-Motorwagen in 1885.
Today, almost every American owns at least one automobile. The four main types of automobiles we see today are cars, trucks, SUVs, and vans.
"Car" encompasses a large group including hatchbacks, convertibles, sports cars, and sedans. "Truck" can range from the utilitarian pickup truck, which is a common sight on roads (especially in the South
) to the massive 18-wheel semi trucks used for carting giant loads of goods across the nation. "SUV" is probably the easiest-to-define group here. An SUV, generally speaking, has four-wheel drive, in which the engine layout causes both the front wheels to pull the vehicle and the rear wheels to push it. Some SUVs have a fuction where you can even
steer all four wheels instead of just the front two. "Van" is an interesting, yet small group-minivans are used widely by families, while full-sized vans are used by large groups to transport many people, like a semi, except with people.
Now, images.
2011 Honda Odyssey Minivan
2009 Cadillac CTS-V Sport Sedan
2008 Mazda Furai Race Car
1991 GMC Syclone Pickup Truck
2012 FIAT Grande Punto Hatchback
Automobiles, especially cars, have been used in motorsport competitions, commonly referred to as racing. There are divisions of racing for almost any car, and even some pickup trucks, SUVs, and minivans.
In motorsports, there are many factors to take in - horsepower, the weight of the car, the drivetrain, aerodynamics, RPM, and others. The most blatant differences are the first three, so I will go over them.
The more horsepower a car has, the better. A car with more horsepower will generally go faster than a car with less horsepower. Weight in cars is important as well. A light car can turn much quicker and even go faster than a heavy car. Drivetrain is such a big difference it divides motorsport divisions sometimes. There are several. Front engine car, front wheel drive (FF), front engine, rear wheel drive (FR), engine in the middle of the car, rear wheel drive (MR), rear engine, rear wheel drive (RR), and front engine, four wheel drive (4WD or FWD). Each has something to offer - FF has stability, FR has reliability, MR has handling, MR has power, and 4WD has acceleration. That, of course, as usual is generally speaking.
(Will add further later)
Poll