Car Talk

Along with it's parallel universe of cars, England comes with a completely different array of car talk. In the US we seem to have a list of basic questions we ask when we hear someone has gotten a new car.

If you're a girl it goes something like this:
Girl A: 'Oh, so you got a new car? What kind?'
Girl B: 'A new bug!'
Girl A: 'Cute! What color?'
Girl B: 'Baby blue.'
Girl A: 'Adorable! I'm so jealous!'

If you're a boy it goes something like this:
Boy A: 'Hey dude, what did you end up with?'
Boy B: 'It's a black F-150 extended cab, V-8.'
Boy A: 'Uh-huh. So what kind of power you got?'
Boy B: '250 horsepower, 28 cup holders.'
Boy A: 'What about mileage?'
Boy B: 'About 3 miles to the gallon.'
Boy A: 'That ain't bad, dude.'
Boy B: 'Yeah, dude, it's awesome.'

Please excuse my boy talk, I know it's not the best, but my point being is that things often discussed would be a) the engine size, usually termed as V-something, b) amount of horsepower, and c) gas mileage.

I've been privy to a few conversations about cars in these parts, and I can tell you the list of concerns are a bit strange. Perhaps a similar convo would go as follows (again, my apologies for totally messing this up):
Bloke A: 'Hey mate, did you get a new car?'
Bloke B: 'Why, yes I have, mate.'
Bloke A: 'What did you go for, mate?'
Bloke B: 'I went Italian.'
Bloke A: 'Fiat, Alfa?'
Bloke B: 'Fiat [insert Fiat model here].'
Bloke A: 'Awesome, mate. What size engine?'
Bloke B: 'It's a 1.2 litre.'
Bloke A: 'What's the reg?'
Bloke B: '06.'
Bloke A: 'How's the tax?'
Bloke B: 'Not bad, actually, 3rd from the bottom.'
Bloke A: 'That's cool, mate. Cuppa tea?'
Bloke B: 'That would be lovely.'
Bloke A: 'Biccie?'
Bloke B: 'Yes, please.'

Translation: you apparently take interest in the size of the engine in liters, the registration (aka, basically the year, plates now change about every six months, a car from the first half of 2007 would have a plate with an 07, second half would be 57) is even more particular than the model year and also indicates where the car originated via a fancy two letter code, and the plates essentially stay with the cars for life so are generally pretty telling. Finally, people seem to ask how much the car costs to tax, which is based entirely on emissions these days. Newer cars are generally better with these things and are therefore generally cheaper in this manner. Oh, and you can change plates on a car, it's just more restrictive. For example, I'm assuming that the plates on the hummer I saw yesterday that read 'HU52MER' were not the original plates and they paid a pretty penny to acquire them.