Auto Glossary

Manual stick shift is just another term to describe a manual transmission in the United States. Besides a clutch pedal, drivers of such equipped cars use a stick shaped gear lever to manually change gears.

Called "bubble cars" in the past, modern microcars are very small vehicles designed purely for city driving. Most of them have engines borrowed from scooters or use electric power, can only sit one or two passengers and are generally found in crowded cities.

MMI is a user interface media system developed by Audi, used to control some of the vehicle functions.

MPGe is a metric used by the American Environmental Protection Agency to measure how alternative fuel vehicles compare to gasoline powered cars.

A multi-plate transfer (or multi-plate clutch) is a set of several hydraulic clutches that are progressively engaged and disengaged to limit slip at the drive wheels. They can act either as a normal differential or a limited slip one (LSD). Most multi-plate clutches are microprocessor-controlled, using various speed sensors to determine when to engage or disengage the clutches. Some SUVs for example use a multi-plate transfer case in place of a center differential.

The MPV (an acronym for Multi Purpose Vehicle) is a multi-passenger vehicle based on a car platform with maximized interior space. They are usually used by families and range in size from compact cars to almost van-like dimensions.

MQB is a Volkswagen Group car platform for transverse, front-engine, front-wheel-drive or all-wheel drive cars. It is used on all types of vehicle classes, from small to SUVs.

The MSR (Motor Slip Regulation) is a Fiat safety technology. If the driver changes down abruptly in conditions of poor grip, the MSR system activates, restoring torque to the engine in oreder to prevent skidding caused by locking the drive wheels.

The multi-link independent suspension was developed in order to optimize wheel movement geometry. A wheel which is not constrained by attachment to an axle can move in a vertical, horizontal or perpendicular direction. To prevent the wheel from moving in any other direction but a prescribed path, multi-link independent suspension attaches the wheel to five or sometimes even six flexibly mounted links, that can limit the wheel's kinematic behaviour to just one degree of movement freedom - which is vertical movement.