Car people have their own language, and nobody hands you the dictionary. This is it: the words for car enthusiasts, the names of the driving styles, the kinds of events, and the slang for the cars themselves. Short definitions, no fluff, with the Australian terms marked because half of this list means something slightly different depending on which side of an ocean you are standing on.
Words for a car enthusiast
Car enthusiast. The neutral term for anyone with a real interest in cars. Covers everyone below. Full definition here.
Petrolhead. British and Australian slang for a car enthusiast, with a lean towards noise, power and engineering.
Gearhead. American equivalent of petrolhead, often implying someone who works on their own cars.
Motorhead. Same as gearhead. Older, and shared with a band.
Revhead. Australian. A car enthusiast, sometimes said with affection and sometimes by a neighbour.
Car buff. An enthusiast with a taste for classic and vintage cars and their history.
Car nut, car guy, car girl. Everyday versions. Self-applied more often than not.
Autophile. The dictionary word. Correct, and never used.
Spotter. Someone who hunts for rare or interesting cars in public to photograph them. See the people at every car meet.
Tyre kicker. A person who looks, asks and never buys. Not an insult at a meet, very much one at a car yard.
Driving styles
Spirited driving. Driving a good road properly, within the law, for the enjoyment of it. The catch-all for what most enthusiasts do on a Sunday morning.
Cruising. Slow, social, usually in a group. The destination matters less than being seen on the way.
Canyon carving. American term for spirited driving on winding mountain roads. The Australian version has no name, it just has the Adelaide Hills and the Black Spur.
Touge. Japanese for a mountain pass, and the culture of driving them. Borrowed into English by the drift and JDM crowds.
Track day. A day at a racetrack in your own car, in sessions, with no racing and no timing in the strict sense. The safest and cheapest way to find out what your car actually does.
Time attack. Timed laps, one car at a time or spaced out, fastest lap wins. The competitive version of a track day.
Hillclimb. Timed runs up a closed hill road, one at a time. One of the oldest forms of motorsport and a big deal in Australia.
Drifting. Deliberately sliding the car through corners with the rear wheels spinning, judged on angle, speed and style rather than time.
Drag racing. Two cars, a straight line, usually a quarter mile, first to the end. Roll racing is the version that starts from a rolling speed rather than a standstill.
Rally. Racing on closed public roads or forest tracks, one car at a time against the clock, with a co-driver reading notes. Tarmac rally is the sealed-road version.
Targa. A tarmac rally run over several days on closed public roads. Targa Tasmania is the famous one.
Motorkhana. Australian. Low-speed precision driving around cones in a car park or paddock, timed. The entry point into competition for a lot of people.
Autocross, gymkhana. The overseas names for roughly the same thing as motorkhana and khanacross.
Hooning. Australian. Dangerous or antisocial driving on public roads: burnouts, street racing, drifting in car parks. Illegal, and the reason meets get shut down. Not a driving style, whatever the person doing it says.
Events
Car meet. An informal gathering of cars and owners in a car park or venue, usually free, usually regular. Find one near you.
Cars and Coffee. A morning car meet with coffee, typically on a Saturday or Sunday, done by mid-morning. The most common kind of meet in the world now. Local ones are listed here.
Show and shine. A car show where cars are parked, polished and judged, often with trophies. The formal version of a meet.
Concours. Short for concours d'elegance. A show where cars are judged on originality and condition to a very high standard. Gloves are involved.
Cruise. A group drive with a set route, a start point and an end point, usually ending at a meet or a pub.
Club run. A cruise organised by a car club for its members.
Virtual car show. A car show held online, where owners enter photos and people vote. How they work.
Swap meet. A market for parts, tools and the occasional whole car.
The cars
Daily. The car you drive every day. Often said with slight apology.
Project car. A car being built, restored or modified. Usually not driveable. Usually not finished.
Garage queen. A car that is kept perfect and rarely driven.
Sleeper. A car that looks ordinary and is not. The opposite of a show pony.
Barn find. A car discovered after decades in storage, in original and usually poor condition. Worth more that way, sometimes.
Resto-mod. A classic car restored with modern parts underneath: brakes, suspension, engine, air conditioning.
OEM+. Modified only with parts the manufacturer made, usually from a higher model. Subtle on purpose.
Stance. A style built around how the car sits: very low, with the wheels tucked or angled. Divides opinion more than any other word on this list.
Slammed, static, bagged. Very low. Static means on fixed springs, bagged means on air suspension that can be raised to drive.
JDM. Japanese domestic market. Cars built for sale in Japan, and the whole culture around Japanese performance cars.
Euro. European cars, and the scene around them. Often means German, in practice.
Muscle car. A big engine in a mid-sized two-door, originally American, adopted with enthusiasm by Australia.
Classic, vintage, veteran. Old, older, oldest. Vintage usually means pre-1930s, veteran pre-1919, and classic is anything old enough to be interesting and argued about at every club meeting.
Pride and joy. The one car the owner would run into a fire for.
Around the car
Bonnet, boot, guard, windscreen. Australian and British for hood, trunk, fender and windshield.
Ute. Australian. A car with a tray. The Americans have trucks, we have utes, and the argument about which is which is not worth having.
Mods. Modifications. Bolt-ons are the easy ones. A build is a lot of them.
Tune. Changing the engine's software for more power. Also what the person selling it calls it.
Wrap. A vinyl film over the paint, for colour or protection.
PPF. Paint protection film. Clear wrap, expensive, and the detailer will insist.
Rego. Australian for vehicle registration. The annual bill you forgot.
If a term is missing, ask on Drivesome, the social network for car enthusiasts, where the whole timeline is car people who will happily disagree about a definition for a week.
More on car people
Questions people ask
What do you call a car enthusiast?
Petrolhead in Britain and Australia, gearhead or motorhead in the United States, revhead in Australia, and car buff for the classic car crowd. The formal word is autophile.
What is spirited driving?
Driving a good road with enthusiasm, within the law, for enjoyment rather than to get somewhere. It is what most car enthusiasts mean by "going for a drive".
What is the difference between a car meet and a car show?
A meet is informal: turn up, park, talk, leave. A show is organised, usually judged, often with an entry fee and trophies. Cars and Coffee is a meet. A show and shine is a show.
What does JDM mean?
Japanese domestic market: cars built for sale in Japan. It is used loosely for any Japanese performance car and the culture around them.
