Fwd: front-wheel drive
Rwd: rear-wheel drive
4wd: 4-wheel drive

L / W / H / WB: standards for Length / Width / Height / Wheelbase
Width does not include mirrors
Wheelbase is the distance between front and rear axles
All dimensions are represented in mm.
American use inch instead of mm, where 1inch = 25.4mm.

cc: cubic centimeters (1cc = a cubic volume of 1cm x 1cm x 1cm)
Some American prefer to use cubic inches instead, where 1 cubic inch = 16.4 cc.

hp: horsepower
ps: stands for Pferdestärke, equivalent to hp.
kW: kilowatt. 1kW = 1.34hp. EU countries such as Germany prefer to use kW.

There are different methods for measuring power, test conditions such as ambient temperature, air pressure and accessory loss could be different, thus the same engine could obtain different power rating by different methods. The most commonly used methods are:

EEC: European standard. Measure at 99kPa and 25°C. Rated in kW.
SAE: American standard. Measure at 99kPa and 25°C. Rated in hp. 1kW = 1.341hp (SAE).
DIN: German standard. Measure at 101.3kPa and 20°C. Rated in hp (ps). 1kW = 1.360hp (DIN).
JIS: Japanese standard. Theoretically same as DIN, but we always find it is actually smaller.
British horsepower: same as SAE. Rated in bhp (could be confused with brake horse power).

In other words, 300hp (SAE) = 300bhp (British) > 300hp (DIN) > 300ps (JIS)

In AutoZine, generally speaking, horsepower of American, European and Japanese cars are rated by SAE, DIN and JIS respectively. However, USA or Europe-targeted Japanese cars are rated by local standards.

lbft: pound-foot
EU prefers to use Nm. 100Nm = 73.7lbft.
Japan prefers to use kgm. 10kgm = 98.1Nm = 72.3lbft.

6M = 6-speed manual gearbox
5A = 5-speed automatic gearbox
6M semi-auto = Ferrari F1-style, manual-based gearbox with automatic clutch and gearshift actuator.
6M clutchless = manual-based gearbox with automatic clutch but the driver must make gearshift manually.
CVT = Continuous Variable Transmission

As Tiptronic-style automatic transmission is very popular now, it is no longer specially mentioned.

F / R: stands for Front / Rear
ad damp: adaptive damping
air spring: variable springing by means of air cushion
active anti-roll: active anti-roll function by means of active anti-roll bar or variable springing

F / R: stands for Front / Rear

As far as possible, AutoZine refers weight to DIN kerb weight, i.e., car with all fluid and fuel tank 90% full, but no driver.

Some European car makers now quote only kerb weight according to new EEC (European) standard, which is DIN kerb weight + 75kg (68kg driver and 7kg luggage). Note that many magazines confuse between DIN and EEC figures thus made wrong comparison between cars. For a fair comparison, AutoZine always try to convert EEC figures into DIN. However, sometimes it is impossible to identify the obtained figures.

SAE (American) and JIS (Japanese) kerb weight seems to be different too - only half tank of fuel is needed. Otherwise same as DIN. This could be around 20-30kg lighter than DIN for most cars.

Some sports car specialists (e.g. Lamborghini) quote only dry weight, which is the car without any fluid, fuel and driver. This could be around 70-90kg lighter than DIN for most cars.

mph: miles per hour. 1 mph = 1.61 kph or km/h

(limited): refers to electronically limited top speed
(c): claimed by manufacturer
(est): estimated by AutoZine

(c): claimed by manufacturer
(est): estimated by AutoZine

American car magazines prefer to allow a 1-foot roll off, which means the timer starts ticking only after the car has overcome initial slippage and passed the 1-foot distance. This explains why their figures are usually a few tenths quicker than what European magazines recorded on the same cars.

European mainland prefer to use 0-100kph instead, which equals to 0-62.1mph. AutoZine converts 0-100kph time to 0-60mph time by using the following approximation which is based on my statistics:
 

0-100 kph (sec)	0-60 mph (sec)
x <= 4.2	x - 0.1
4.2 < x <= 5.2	x - 0.2
5.2 < x <= 6.9	x - 0.3
6.9 < x <= 8.0	x - 0.4
8.0 < x <= 9.2	x - 0.5
9.2 < x <= 10.8	x - 0.6

 

A probably more important indicator to performance than 0-60mph.