Five carmakers that use confusing badges

Monday, 28 May 2018

The Alfa Romeo Giulia has a rather straightforward badge on its boot. Other cars are not so upfront at the back.

Not all that long ago the badge on the back of a car used to tell you quite a bit about it. Whether it was engine size or a special sporty model, the clue would be in the badge.

Now that isn't really the case, with most manufacturers either playing the marketing game or simply running out of ideas.

Today we take a look at the five carmakers whose model designations are quite far from reality.

This is a 640i. So that's a 4.0-litre then? Not any more.

BMW

Who says the numbers on the boot of your car need to mean anything other than a vague concept? Certainly not BMW.

* Five vehicles named after places in the Pacific Ocean

What does the 55 mean? Well, no one is actually sure yet as Audi is still figuring it out.

* Car badges with great back stories

* Four car badges with interesting stories (and one dull one)**

Back in the good old days, something like a 318i was powered by a 1.8-litre four-cylinder engine. Now it has a 1.5-litre triple.

Flying directly in the face of AMG badging convention, the CLA 45 is so named because it was released on AMG's 45th anniversary.

A 330i would have a 3.0-litre straight six. Now it has a 2.0-litre four, while the 340i gets a 3.0-litre six.

Then you have the wonderfully confusing 'TwinPower' badge that denotes a twin turbo engine. Or, at least it did. It has also meant a single twin-scroll turbo or a single variable geometry turbo.

Audi

As if determined to not let Mercedes or BMW have the most confused customers, Audi recently unveiled a bewilderingly vague new model naming system that will make its debut on the A8 later this year.

A bunch of Porsche 911 Turbos. But there are lots of other 911 'turbos' in the current range as well.

The previously straightforward A8 3.0 TDI (3.0-litre turbo diesel) will now become the A8 50 TDI (a diesel model that produces between 210-230kW of power).

Models with 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 60 and 70 will represent different power ranges (30 starts with 81-96kW, while 70 tops it out by meaning 'more than 400kW') and unless you memorise them all, you won't have a clue what they mean.

Mercedes-AMG

While AMG's badging may seem to make sense, dig deeper and you will find things like the fact that the 63 cars were so named originally because they were powered by a 6.3-litre V8, which was actually a 6.2

And that now they are powered by a 4.0-litre turbo V8. Except for the ones that are powered by a 5.5-litre turbo V8.

Mugen used to mean something pretty special on a Honda. Now it just means extra plastic on a Jazz.

The 45 cars (powered by a 2.0-litre turbo four) are named for the fact that it was AMG's 45th anniversary when the A 45 launched.

Now there is also a 43 model (3.0-litre V6), which is being replaced by a 53 model (3.0-litre hybrid inline six) and a rumoured 73 model (48-volt PHEV version of the 4.0-litre V8 63) on the way.

Porsche

While model names like 911, 718, Cayenne and Panamera are straightforward enough, things get a bit messy in Porsche's world when it comes to the iconic Turbo models.

Having a model specifically called 'Turbo' is fine when it is the only car actually with a turbo strapped to it, but things start getting messy when you have more than one.

Or if an entire model range is powered by turbo engines.

Porsche first faced this problem with the Macan, which only has turbo engines, but it's becoming an issue with the 911 as well.

Its solution? Just stick with it. Call the fastest one the Turbo and just don't worry about the rest.

Honda

While Honda may not have confusing model designations, it is arguably more divorced from reality than any of the other brands listed here when it comes to its use of the Sport, RS and Mugen badges.

While there are other abusers of the Sport badge in the automotive world, Honda is easily the worst, mainly because it really used to mean something when it slapped one of the above on a car.

Now, sadly, Sport, RS and Mugen are simply trim designations on things like the Jazz, with no handling tweaks or engine upgrades.