We Wrote Extremely Hard Car-Questions That Only True Enthusiasts Can Answer. Let’s See How You Do

Friday night was a big one for The Autopian: We held our second quarterly trivia night for Velour and Rich Corinthian Leather members, and great fun was had by all. Great mental taxation, but also great fun. Roughly a dozen members descended on our Zoom call, ready to reach for the far corners of their automotive memory to answer our widely varied questions, often with an excellent degree of success.

Victory went to team four with 43 out of 62 possible points, although all teams were tightly-clustered in scoring. Think you can do better? Read on below for all our trivia questions, then tap on our special tiles to see the answers. Note: The first two rounds are absurdly hard, so maybe start at three, then finish up at five, then come back to one and two.

Round One: EVs

1. The top four lithium-ion battery companies together dominate 70 percent of the market. Name those companies. (Four points)
2. Name two reasons why solid axles are likely to die off with EVs. (Two points)
3. Which North American connector is smaller than a CCS connector yet has separate AC and DC pins unlike Tesla’s NACS?
4. Light-duty plug-in vehicles sold in North America feature three different types of DC fast charging connector. What are the three connectors, which one is least-common, and what is the latest vehicle to launch featuring this uncommon standard? (Five points)
5. What does Hyundai-Kia’s E-GMP platform stand for? What’s the voltage of the architecture? Which vehicle has been primarily struggling with ICCU failures? What does ICCU mean? (Four points)
6. The gasoline-powered version of this car was sold in Canada but not America. The electric version of this car was sold in America but not Canada. What on earth am I talking about?
7. An electric car does not have an accessory drive, so there’s no belt driving a water pump, power steering pump, alternator, or air conditioning compressor. What parts replace these four, and which ones are on the high-voltage circuit? (Six points)
8. What is the ideal operating temperature for a typical lithium-ion battery call in a modern EV (ballpark range)? In an EV, what two fluids go into a “chiller”? Operating like A/C in reverse, which device allows for battery/cabin warmup much more efficiently than using a PTC resistance heater? (Four points)
9. Why does the Ford F-150 Lightning have different gear ratios on its front and rear motors?
10. A BMW i3 with a 42.2 kWh battery pack parks at a 6.0 kW Level 2 charging station. Under ideal conditions, approximately how long would it take to charge from 10 percent to 80 percent?

Round Two: The Name Game

1. What was the first Lamborghini model to not be named after a bull?
2. Quite possibly the ugliest racetrack in America, and yet it has two cars named after it.
3. The model name of the Suzuki Liana made famous on Top Gear is actually an acronym. What does Liana stand for?
4. Kei cars often have whimsical names. Which one implies the presence of marshmallows or a cuckoo bird mascot? (Two points)
5. Sometimes, a car undergoes a name change very early in life. What was the Nissan Armada initially called?
6. If you’re going to name a car, run it through Google Translate first. Why might Audi’s e-tron models not do so well in Francophone locales?
7. Why couldn’t Jeep call the YJ a Wrangler in Canada?
8. Before it was just called the Tribeca, what two names did Subaru’s first three-row crossover go by? (Two points)

Round Three: Car Parts

Round Four: Car Haikus

1. People’s car behind wall / Smoky, mocked by everyone / Goats ate the bodies.
2. Round eyes and cute face / Belies the power and speed / It’s not an Escort.
3. Out in Tokyo / This sister to a French prince / Now this firm makes trucks.
4. Sveltest from Sweden / Had fins and two SU carbs / And a shooting brake.
5. First named for a fruit / Prickly outside, sweet inside / Then named for a sword.
6. Van version of the / Car that’s unsafe at any speed / What a verdant name.
7. Unassuming box / Rhapsodized by David E. / Please turn your hymnals.
8. A leathern body / Perfect for that famous spring / Engine from “Star Wars”.

Round Five: Two-Line Drawings

We’d like to thank our amazing Velour and Rich Corinthian Leather members for making this trivia night so great. Admittedly, we tried to make this event’s questions easier than the first trivia night’s questions, but, well, we may have still gone a little overboard. If this is your idea of an awesome Friday night, hop this link to learn more about membership. So, how did you do? I’d love to know in the comments.

(Photo credits: Borgeson, Amazon, Jason Torchinsky)

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