British Slang For Car (15 Examples!)

The way that cars dominate our lives even for those of us who don’t drive is hard to deny or ignore.

They are everywhere, all the time, and we dedicate massive amounts of our public space to their use.

Though they’ve existed for little more than a century, their influence on daily life has been enormous.

In Britain, this is equally true as it is anywhere else, and out of this has arisen a great many varied slang terms for cars.

Let’s look at some of them.

In This Article

Motor

First we have one of the most common British slang terms which is simply a direct stand in for the word car, “motor”.

While this one is certainly not as common today as it once was, it is definitely still widely used to mean car.

From the north of Scotland to the south of England, you’ll hear this one used.

It is if anything more common in Scotland than elsewhere.

“I’ve got to go pick up the motor from the garage,” for example.

Naturally, this term simply arose out of the fact that cars were first called “motorcars” when they were rolled out.

It’s hard to say when it was specifically used in this way for the first time, though it was probably when cars were first commercially available.

Banger

Next, we have a more specific but perhaps more widely used slang term for car, “banger”.

This is a common slang term that means a very old and beat-up car, something that is falling to pieces and just about struggling by.

It’s something you might get very cheaply as a second hand car, or one you hold onto for as long as you can to avoid having to pay for a new one.

“That car is such an old banger, but I just love her!” for example.

The precise origin of this slang term is also unknown, but it’s thought that it simply derives from the fact that poorly maintained cars would have a tendency to back-fire and make loud, banging noises.

This was common in the latter half of the 20^th Century.

Barge

Another specific slang term for car in British English is “barge”.

A barge refers to a particularly large car, often with a sizeable and powerful engine.

However, this is usually not a term used to describe large vehicles like trucks or lorries.

A “barge” is simply a large personal or family car, something like a people carrier or even an SUV.

“Look at the size of that barge taking up the whole road,” for example.

The term relates to the large boats which would take vast quantities of cargo like builder material or waste product.

Usually, these boats would travel down rivers.

So, this is a sort of joke name for the fact that the cars are so comically large.

Beater

Similarly to “banger”, a beater is a car without much value that may be on its last legs and not much good can be said of it other than that it will “get you from A to B”.

Very high mileage and conspicuous cosmetic flaws are often the key points of such cars, and while this term is certainly not as common as “banger,” most British people will understand what you mean by the term.

It’s thought that this term refers to the fact that you would have to “beat” on the car all the time for repairs or even to get it going.

This was originally an American term that spread to Britain in the middle of the 20^th Century.

Land yacht

Similar to “barge”, next we have “land yacht” which no doubt most will understand intuitively.

This is another term for a very large, perhaps unnecessarily large, car.

Again, this is a term that got started in America to refer to specific kinds of large cars, like Cadillacs.

This eventually spread to Britain where it is still used today to refer to very large cars. “I can’t drive that land yacht on these narrow country roads,” for example.

Again, the term appeared first in the 1950s and was a play on the fact that yachts were very large, luxury boats that the rich would own.

To have such a large car was to also own a “land yacht”—it’s that simple, really!

Chariot

Next we have “chariot”, another common British slang term that people use to refer to their cars.

This one is not all that common, but it’s intuitively understood so that virtually any British person, if they have the right context, will understand what is meant by this.

It’s again a kind of joking, tongue-in-cheek way to talk about your car as though it’s an engine of war.

“Let’s all pile into the chariot and get going, then,” for example.

Chariots, as you probably know, were Bronze Age vehicles that you would attach to horses for the purpose of carrying one or two people in war.

This was so they could shoot with a bow while mobile. In the latter half of the 20^th Century, this became British slang to refer to your car.

Beamer

There is a variety of common slang terms used in both British and American slang to refer to specific, popular car manufacturers.

Perhaps the most common and well known is “Beamer”, which refers to the luxury BMW cars. BMW drivers are, if unfairly, somewhat stereotyped in Britain, and so most people tend to know what the term “Beamer” means.

“There’s a Beamer coming up behind you,” for example.

This term originated from a need to distinguish the Beemer from the British motorcycle manufacturer whose vehicles were known as “Beezers”.

This was again around the middle of the 20^th Century, and was just an alteration of BMW.

Jag

Another slang term for the manufacturer Jaguar is simply Jag.

This is a very common term used in British and other English-speaking slang, again since these cars are so well known and known to be luxurious and expensive.

“I’d love to get a Jag if I could ever afford one,” for example.

Obviously the term is simply a shortening of Jaguar, and has probably been around as long as the cars have been popular.

Benz

Another common slang term for the popular luxury car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is simply “Benz”.

Again, these are one of the most popular luxury car manufacturers in Britain and driving one is seen as a considerable symbol of status. If you drive a Benz, you’re doing pretty well for yourself.

Lambo

Finally on the list of slang terms for specific manufacturers, we have Lambo, short for Lamborghini.

Lambos are too expensive even for a lot of those who might afford a Jag or a Benz, so this one is perhaps the greatest status symbol of them all.

“He drives a Lambo—can you believe that? He must be loaded,” for example.

Jammer

One slang term which spread from Ireland to Britain is the term “jammer”.

This might sound like it has more connotations, but it does simply mean a car most of the time. It doesn’t mean a car that jams up or anything of that sort.

However, it can in fact specifically refer to a stolen car. It can sometimes depend on who you ask, but in any case, the more common use today relates to any car rather than to a stolen car specifically.

“Picking up the new jammer this weekend, I can’t wait,” for example.

As I say, this was originally Irish slang which spread to Britain in the latter half of the 20^th Century.

As I said, it can also refer to a stolen car specifically, and it was originally rhyming slang: “Jam jar” rhyming with “car”.

That eventually became jammer.

Wagon

Another common and catch-all slang term for just about any ordinary car is “wagon”.

This one is also used throughout the English speaking world to refer to cars of all kinds, but particularly common in Britain.

It’s similar to the chariot in the sense that it invokes a kind of historical analogy with horse-drawn wagons.

“I’ll get in the wagon and head over, I’ll be ten minutes,” for example.

A “station wagon” as a specific kind of car was first built in 1910, and though these are not referred to by this name in Britain, this is probably where the modern slang term comes from in Britain.

It’s not known for sure, so again it could simply be based on the historical word wagon for something drawn by draught animals.

Wheels

Though some might cringe at the earnest use of this term, it can’t be denied that this is a very common slang term for car in Britain.

It doesn’t mean any specific kind of car and anyone could use it any context.

It’s your car, whether it’s a beat up old banger or a brand new Lambo. “I should get a new set of wheels soon, this one’s about to give up on me,” for example.

Naturally this term simply derives from the fact that the car is driven on wheels.

It was originally used in London and spread to the rest of the country, although it’s still more commonly heard in the south of England than anywhere else.

Auto

Another common slang term in Britain for a car is an “auto”.

This one is certainly a bit more archaic but it is for that very reason that it has been somewhat revived in recent years.

It’s kind of quaint and tongue-in-cheek to refer to your car as an auto, and many people have indeed started doing so in earnest.

“I’ve got to drop the auto off at the shop later, can you give me a lift back?” for example.

This one is another simple one, simply a shortening of the full term “automobile” to refer to a car.

As I said this one was used as early as when the first cars were available, and then fell out of use, and was then revived again to some degree.

You’re more likely to hear this one in the south of England than anywhere else—you can think of it as something like a cognate of the northern “motor”.

Jam sandwich

Finally we have a very specific slang term for cars, “jam sandwich”, which refers to a highway police car.

This one has somewhat fallen out of use now because it doesn’t really accurately describe the cars anymore.

However, in the past, highway patrol cars used by the police were white with a bright orange stripe along the middle.

This made them look like jam sandwiches, thus the nickname.

“There’s a jam sandwich coming up, you’d better slow down,” for example.

This one was largely used in the 80s and 90s when police motorway cars still featured this design.

Today, they do not usually have this orange stripe anymore, although in certain regions this does still exist.

Even though it doesn’t accurately describe the cars anymore, though, many people still use the term simply because it’s baked into their vocabulary.

So, while some of these are naturally a great deal more common than others, most of them will probably mean something to the majority of British people.

Whether it’s a brand new Lambo or the old reliable banger, you’ve got plenty of variety in the British slang terms relating to cars and driving.

It is a testament to the creativity of British slang that, in less than a century of cars being present, so much varied slang has arisen around the subject

More in British Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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