Well hello and welcome to this English lesson about describing cars and transportation.
I do want to mention that this isn't just a lesson about cars.
This isn't just a lesson an English lesson for people who love cars.
In this English lesson I will describe cars and trains and the subway.
And even one of the slides has a bicycle on it.
I will teach you adjectives and words that you can use to describe different ways of moving around in vehicles and using city transportation.
So once again welcome to this English lesson about describing cars and transportation.
I have about 30 words that I'm going to teach you in this lesson. cramped.
When you describe a form of transportation as cramped it means having a lot of people inside.
You can use this word to describe a train, the subway, a car.
If I went to visit someone and I rode with other people in their car and if there were let's say it was a smaller car and there were six of us in there, it might be really cramped.
I would need to sit like this.
We also sometimes use the word crowded, but I like the word cramped because I think it gives a better sense of what's happening here.
Some of you might say This this train car isn't that cramped at all, but for me, when I see almost everyone standing when I take the train to Toronto, I feel like it is very cramped.
It's very crowded having a lot of people inside. spacious.
So this is the opposite.
You can see that spacious means having a lot of space inside for people.
So if you see this vehicle here it looks like a minivan.
Everyone has lots of room.
Especially the kids in the back seat.
They even have some extra room between them.
I would say the inside of this minivan is very very spacious.
Um no one is bumping up against someone else.
Everyone has lots of room.
They probably could even have some stuff on the seat beside them.
But spacious, having a lot of space inside for people, roomy.
Now this is really just the same as spacious.
Having plenty of space inside.
In fact spacious and roomy mean the same thing.
And we don't always just use this to talk about vehicles.
You could say oh I took an Uber and it was very roomy inside.
Or I'm trying to think of another example here.
Um but certainly this vehicle with no people in it looks very roomy.
But the seats as well are very far apart and everyone would be very comfortable because it is roomy.
Having plenty of space inside.
Convenient.
Easy to use or access.
So this is actually a streetcar in Toronto.
So when I say convenient it could mean a number of things.
It could mean that the stop where this picks people up is right outside your house or apartment.
It could mean that it very quickly brings you from home to work and that it runs on time and frequently.
So if I said to someone you know, I live in Toronto, I don't need a car because the street cars are so convenient.
Or the subway is so convenient.
Or the bus stop is right outside my apartment.
It's very convenient.
So when you describe a form of transportation a convenient.
It means easy to use or access.
Packed.
Completely full of people.
So this is similar to cramped.
Yes or crowded.
When you are on a vehicle that looks like this you could say it is packed.
We wouldn't really use this to talk about a car though.
We would mostly use this to talk about public transportation.
The bus was packed.
But Um the subway car was packed.
You can even use it to talk about a location.
The mall was packed yesterday.
There were lots of people there. moves and turns easily in tight spaces.
So there's a reason why DoorDash and Uber Eats and food delivery people use bikes and e-bikes.
An e-bike is an electric bike.
Um because it moves and turns easily in tight spaces.
If I needed to deliver food two kilometers away from a restaurant in a city, I would want to use an e-bike or a bike, because it's easy to move between cars and buses and people.
This is how Bob rides a bike.
Um and so it's nimble.
It moves and turns easily in tight spaces.
It's probably faster to drive two kilometers in a busy city using a bike or e-bike than it is to drive a car.
Because with a car, you are the opposite.
It's not very nimble.
You're stuck in traffic.
Gas guzzler.
So it uses a large amount of fuel very quickly.
This is actually the car that my mom and dad had in the late 80s, I think it was.
Think it's a Ford Crown Victoria.
And it was a gas guzzler.
So you can kind of picture this.
Um, when you have a car like this, you fill it up with gas and then it just uses gas very, very quickly.
And so we would call it a gas guzzler.
Right now, the price of gas in Canada and around the world keeps going up, and so if you have a gas guzzler, it's not very nice.
By the way this is kind of an informal term gas guzzler.
But if you said to someone in Canada or in the United States that oh I car is a gas guzzler.
They know that it uses a lot of gas.
Usually a gas guzzler has a really big engine with lots of cylinders.
Probably an eight cylinder engine.
And when you drive it uses lots and lots of gas.
Or petrol if you're in Britain.
The opposite of course would be fuel efficient.
Uses a small amount of fuel to travel far.
I think this is a Toyota Prius.
This it's actually a Prius hybrid isn't it?
You can see that on the front.
This is the one of the most fuel efficient cars in the world.
It uses very little gas or very little fuel.
A very small amount to go very very far.
I have a coworker who used to have a Toyota Prius and he was very, very happy with it because it was so fuel efficient.
He could drive so far and without filling up with gas that he was amazed every time.
His other vehicle was a Ford pickup truck which would be the opposite.
A Ford pickup truck would be a bit more of a gas guzzler.
Not totally but his Prius was very very fuel efficient. armored and bulletproof.
So an armored vehicle is protected with strong materials for safety.
So this is a vehicle designed for safety so that the people inside are safe.
I should have put a picture here of what we call a Brinks truck or an armored truck that they use to carry money in the city.
In Canada, when they bring lots of money from one place to another, they usually use an armored vehicle to protect the people inside while they carry large amounts of money.
But armored, protected with strong materials for safety.
And then there is a U in armored in Canada.
In the United States, there is no U.
And then bulletproof, designed to stop bullets and protect passengers.
So this might look like a normal vehicle to you, but it probably has bulletproof glass and the doors and sides are probably bulletproof as well.
It's designed to stop bullets and protect passengers.
The leaders of countries when they travel, will often be in a bulletproof vehicle that will look a lot like this in North America.
I saw four of these driving down the highway I would think it must be Prime Minister Carney.
It must be the leader of our country.
Because that's usually who would drive around in a bulletproof vehicle like that.
Modern uses new design and up to date technology.
So I do not have modern vehicles.
In fact, I last vehicle I bought was the first vehicle to have a backup camera, which to me was really modern.
But the vehicle is 10 years old.
But this, to me, is a very modern vehicle.
The entire dash is a screen and you can see that.
The person driving it can see the map probably can see the speedometer and all of the other indicators on that dash.
But this, to me, would be a modern vehicle uses new design and up to date technology.
Reliable.
This is a I think this is a Toyota Hilux.
One of the most reliable trucks in the world.
I'm not 100% sure though.
Um but reliable.
Works well and does not break down often.
So if you wanted to have a vehicle that was very, very reliable, where you can drive for years and you never need to really fix anything, except maybe put on new brake pads or change the oil,
I think this would be a good vehicle for you.
This is not I'm not sponsored, by the way, by Toyota, but reliable, works well and does not break down often.
Most of my vehicles have been quite reliable.
I'm pretty happy about that.
I do tend to get my vehicles serviced regularly.
Regular oil changes and those kinds of things, and I think that helps to make the vehicles more reliable.
But reliable works well and does not break down often. dependable.
Can be trusted to work consistently over time.
So you might be wondering what's the difference between dependable and reliable.
They're pretty much the same thing.
Uh when you say a car is dependable.
It means it works when you turn the key.
All the time.
If you say you know I public transit is very dependable here in the city.
It means that when you go to get on the bus, the bus comes on time.
When you go to take the train, the train comes on time and leaves on time.
It's very dependable.
It's very reliable.
So, can be trusted to work consistently over time.
High speed.
Able to travel very quickly.
You're wondering where the idea for this lesson came.
We are supposed to be building a high speed train in Ontario Canada, that's going to run from, I think, Montreal to Ottawa to start, and then it will expand.
I really hope this does happen.
I'm always jealous of France and Japan and Spain and all these countries that have high speed trains, so we do have a train system and Jen and I can take the train from where we close to where we live to Toronto.
But the train only goes about 70 or 80 kilometers per hour.
A high speed train goes 150 to 300 kilometers per hour.
Like a high speed train is very very fast.
And so, I am really looking forward to that.
It will be in 10 years.
I think it takes a while to build these things but uh high speed is able to travel very quickly.
Affordable.
Does not cost a lot of money to buy or use.
I can't quite remember what kind of car this is.
I think it's a Nissan Versa.
I think that's the name.
I'm not a car expert but this is an affordable car.
It's somewhat small.
It's probably really fuel efficient because it has a small engine.
Um this is not a luxury vehicle. does not cost a lot of money to buy or use.
So notice there's two parts to this.
You know, if you're going to buy an affordable vehicle, it will be cheap to buy it.
But it will also be cheap in that sense that it won't use a lot of gas.
So affordable does not cost a lot of money to buy or use. outdated.
Looks old and uses older technology.
Now, I would not say this is um useless but I think it is outdated.
We don't have uh these old style streetcars anymore.
Usually they're bigger and longer and they're more sleek, like they're a little more aerodynamic.
When something is outdated, it looks old and uses older technology.
I would say this is probably 50 to 100 years old and it's a little bit outdated, but if you were somewhere as a tourist, this would be a fun way to travel.
In a trolley car or street car, there's a variety of names.
Outdated, looks old, and uses older technology. protects passengers and reduces risk of harm.
So I don't know if there's truth to this, but we have been told that Volvo makes extremely safe vehicles.
When I was younger, there was a veterinarian who visited our farm, who drove a Volvo and he talked at length about how safe a Volvo was.
That it was one of the safest vehicles.
So it's designed to keep passengers safe.
Of course, it'll have all of the normal things like seat belts and airbags, but it might also have more advanced features.
Even the design of the vehicle might just be better in this in in the sense that if you got in an accident, you would be better protected.
So safe protects passengers and reduces risk of harm.
Expensive.
So here we have something that costs a lot of money.
This is a vehicle that I would never buy although I do like the color orange.
That is a pretty nice looking car but it is expensive.
It costs a lot of money.
Let me put it this way.
If I sold everything I own I don't think I could buy this car.
Maybe no I don't think I could.
If I sold the farm.
The problem is I have debt. if I sold everything I owned I still would have to pay off my debt.
Like I have a loan from the bank that I used to buy the farm.
Which is called a mortgage.
So this is not going to happen.
I might buy an orange minivan someday.
We'll see.
But there you go.
Expensive costs a lot of money.
This is not my vehicle but I do own one exactly like this.
Cheap.
Costs very little money.
So my Chev Uplander, Chevrolet, Chevy Uplander.
Um, by the way, there's a car company called Chevrolet, and we sometimes just call it a Chev or a Chevy.
Um I bought this in month after I had heart surgery for very little money.
I think it was only 5000 to buy this van, which might sound like a lot, but in Canada that's pretty cheap.
Uh and I think it only had 60,000 kilometers on it or 80,000 kilometers.
I still consider this one of the best vehicles I ever bought.
It was very reliable.
Still is.
I
Um and it was cheap.
So it costs very little money.
So very affordable.
Very cheap.
Um one of my favorite vehicles.
Kind of roomy.
Like not super spacious inside but definitely not too bad.
But cheap.
Costs very little money.
Brand new.
So I have never bought a brand new vehicle. brand new means has not had a previous owner new.
So the difference between new and brand new, it means the same thing, but I think when we want to emphasize, we want to make it sound really cool, we would say brand new.
I bought a brand new computer.
I bought a brand new car.
I bought a brand new 2026 minivan. again brand new has not had a previous owner new.
So they built this van at the car factory and then if I was to buy it it would be brand new.
Um so yeah I've never bought a brand new vehicle.
I know a friend of mine buys brand new vehicles all the time.
But I think he makes a lot more money than me.
I usually buy used vehicles.
I a used vehicle has been owned before by someone.
So you can see the sign says used cars and trucks.
So if I had lots of money I would buy a brand new minivan.
But because I don't.
Because I'm just a normal person with a normal life.
I usually buy used.
So I go to the local car lot.
I
I look at all of the used vehicles that are there and I pick out something that I think Jen and I will like, and we test drive it.
So usually I will drive the vehicle home and then Jen will get in and we'll drive it around and then I will drop Jen back off at the farm and bring it back to the used car dealer and then I will decide if we want to buy it.
So used has been owned before by someone.
High performance, built for speed, power, and good handling.
So when you have a high performance car, it's probably not fuel efficient, but it's probably a lot of fun to drive.
So I think this is a Corvette.
It's an American sports car and it is a high performance car.
The engine produces a lot of horsepower.
The engine has a lot of power.
The car is built to go fast.
It's built for speed and when they say good handling, they mean you.
If you turn quickly while going really fast, it doesn't start sliding.
It holds or grips the road.
So high performance built for speed, power, and good handling.
That is a nice looking car, by the way.
Most high performance cars also look really, really cool. duty.
Do you like the way I said that?
Heavy duty.
Made for tough work conditions.
So this is a large Ford pickup truck pulling a big load of round bales of hay.
This is a heavy duty pickup truck.
This is not a normal pickup truck.
Let me make it bigger again. can see how it has what we call dualies on the back.
That means there's two tires beside each other.
It's also just called duals but this truck is a heavy duty truck.
Made for tough work conditions.
It probably has also a lot of horsepower.
The engine produces a lot of power.
But not so the truck can go fast like a sports car.
Instead so the truck can do work.
It can pull a trailer.
It can do things that this car would never be able to do.
So heavy duty made for tough work and work conditions.
Um so can probably put a lot in the back of this truck as well.
It would probably do a good job.
Compact, small in size and easy to park or drive.
So this is a small little compact car.
A compact car usually only has two doors.
It might only be made for two people.
Um but I'm pretty sure it's a little bit cramped inside.
I think if you were taller, or if you were 6 feet tall or taller I don't know what that is in centimeters sorry,
You probably would find this car a little cramped but compact, small in size and easy to park or drive.
Classic.
So in North America, in Canada and in the United States, if you say classic car, you usually mean a car from the 60s or 70s.
This is a Ford Mustang probably from the late 60s, maybe early 70s.
An older vehicle valued for its style and history.
You might also call this a muscle car.
So this is a muscle, right?
Your bicep.
We in North America sometimes call these muscle cars, because they are very, very strong and powerful as well.
But if you had a car from 1968, if you had a 1968 Ford Mustang, it would be considered a classic car, an older vehicle valued for its style and history.
By the way, fun fact my uncle actually two of my uncles when they were like 19 or 20, had Ford Mustangs.
That must have been really, really cool back then.
Autonomous.
Can drive itself without a human driver.
So these are becoming more and more common.
I have not seen an autonomous vehicle yet.
Let me say that one more time.
Autonomous.
It's a new word for me as well.
Um, I knew this word, but it wasn't used regularly until one or two years ago.
They started to have news articles about autonomous vehicles.
So an autonomous vehicle can drive itself without a human driver.
You'll see that it has lots of sensors and cameras on it.
So that it can see the world around it.
So that you can.
It can see people and the road and obstacles and then it can drive itself autonomous.
Can drive itself without a human driver.
Daily driver.
So this is an informal term.
Uh that we use in English for a vehicle used for everyday travel.
So if someone says to you oh you drive to work what's your daily driver?
I would say well mine is a 2015 Ford Escape.
This is my daily driver. is the car that I drive to work every day.
Sometimes people have used this term to talk about other things.
They might say oh what phone is your daily driver?
And I would say well mine is a Google Pixel phone.
You can see the Google Pixel here.
Someone else might say oh for a phone my daily driver is an iPhone.
So daily driver normally you're talking about a vehicle used for everyday travel.
Weak and unstable or unlikely to or likely to break.
Sorry.
Rickety.
That's a fun word to say.
This vehicle certainly looks rickety.
It looks weak and It looks unstable and likely to break.
It's definitely banged up.
Like it has dents in it.
It looks like like parts of it might fall off.
If I ordered an Uber and the driver showed up in this rickety vehicle, I would be a little bit concerned about whether it would get me to my destination.
So, rickety, weak, and unstable or likely to break. economical.
Inexpensive to run and maintain.
So, an affordable car from earlier would be an economical car.
So, a cheap car might not be economical.
A cheap car might be rickety and it might break, but an economical car would be inexpensive to run and maintain.
If you had this car, this is a little Toyota again, isn't it?
My guess is it's very economical.
It probably doesn't need to be fixed a lot.
It's probably well built.
And more importantly, it probably doesn't use very much gas when you are driving it.
So economical, another fun word to say, rickety, economical, inexpensive to run and maintain.
Versatile.
Can be used for many different purposes.
So one of the reasons why I like owning a minivan is it's very versatile.
If you put all the seats down in a minivan, you can put an entire sheet of what we call plywood in the back.
So this is a four by eight sheet of plywood.
You're learning a little bit about wood as well.
It's four feet wide and eight feet long.
That is a standard size for a piece of plywood in Ontario, Canada, and in North America.
And it fits in the back of most minivans if you have all the seats down.
So a minivan is very, very versatile.
Can be used for many different purposes.
A pickup truck is also very versatile.
I could use a pickup truck as my daily driver.
I could have a pickup truck and drive it to work.
I could use it to commute to work and back.
But I could also use it to help my cousin move on the weekend.
It's very, very versatile.
So versatile can be used for many different purposes.
