Honda IMAS - 2003 aerodynamic two-seat concept

[RobertSmalls]

This is the car that should have become the second-generation Honda Insight in 2007.

Honda IMAS

It's a small two-seater, and aside from concept car shenanigans, it's very much like the first-gen Insight. The drag coefficient is 0.20, which would probably translate to a production car with a drag coefficient slightly lower than the Insight's 0.25.



The rear glass on the IMAS is interesting. It curves in from both sides more sharply than on the Insight, and the curvature begins in the doors. The shape of the roofline is sharper than that of the Insight, and much sharper than the streamlining template, which I think demonstrates there are 3D streamlined shapes with lower drag and lower fineness ratios than 2D streamlined bodies. These shapes may be beyond the reach of DIYers, though.

One of my complaints about the Insight is how little cargo space there is, and how much the IMA system and >600mi gas tank intrude into it. The IMAS has a cargo floor about 6" lower than the Insight's. Good, but I bet they did this by deleting the spare tire and stuffing the IMA box into the spare tire well. That's hardly a solution that could have been put into prodcution.

The grille opening of the IMAS suggests the car has (or more likely, could have) a split radiator, located between the bumper and the front wheel wells. That would be expensive and fragile, but if it reduces drag, so be it.

They're claiming 94mpg (on what cycle?) in concept-car form. Nice, and I wonder what it could do with a boat-tail.

Additional material:
http://robson.m3rlin.org/cars/wp-con...ncept-2003.jpg
Honda Worldwide | Tokyo 2003

[Daox]

Pretty (minus the concept shenanigans). Hope to hear more about it.

The EV-1 uses a similar aggressive side tapering rear windshield.

[discovery]

Yes i think too that IMAS should be insight 2-gen car. It is better in every aspect compare to 1-gen. Isn't that how cars suppose to be?
By now rich kids would have been bought and driven IMAS and they would be on the secondary market as "used for sale" May be at disney "junk" yards and all of us that only read and write about them should be able to have a real touch with them.

Think about it Mike D. 2000 would have build MIMA for the IMAS, cheaper "I hope" and the car could go over 150mpg.

[wdb]

Fix those insect eyes and that thing is dead sexy. 94MPG, 1500lbs, a true 2-seater, sports car aspirations... drool.

[luvit]

i would buy this. it would have to be below $20K like when i was comparing the hybrid civic and insight.

i would change nothing, but there's always room for improvement.
for a concept car, it's the most acceptable as road-ready compared to other concepts.

[Topdawg_135]

Looks like the lines were used for the production of the CR-Z

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by RobertSmalls

This is the car that should have become the second-generation Honda Insight in 2007.

Honda IMAS

It's a small two-seater, and aside from concept car shenanigans, it's very much like the first-gen Insight. The drag coefficient is 0.20, which would probably translate to a production car with a drag coefficient slightly lower than the Insight's 0.25.



The rear glass on the IMAS is interesting. It curves in from both sides more sharply than on the Insight, and the curvature begins in the doors. The shape of the roofline is sharper than that of the Insight, and much sharper than the streamlining template, which I think demonstrates there are 3D streamlined shapes with lower drag and lower fineness ratios than 2D streamlined bodies. These shapes may be beyond the reach of DIYers, though.

One of my complaints about the Insight is how little cargo space there is, and how much the IMA system and >600mi gas tank intrude into it. The IMAS has a cargo floor about 6" lower than the Insight's. Good, but I bet they did this by deleting the spare tire and stuffing the IMA box into the spare tire well. That's hardly a solution that could have been put into prodcution.

The grille opening of the IMAS suggests the car has (or more likely, could have) a split radiator, located between the bumper and the front wheel wells. That would be expensive and fragile, but if it reduces drag, so be it.

They're claiming 94mpg (on what cycle?) in concept-car form. Nice, and I wonder what it could do with a boat-tail.

Additional material:
http://robson.m3rlin.org/cars/wp-con...ncept-2003.jpg
Honda Worldwide | Tokyo 2003

I've been working through the 80-90 year old German research. Using the fuselage research reported by S.Hoerner as a guide in comparison to streamlined development models of the gods of vehicle aerodynamics,it looks like the lower limit for cars with boat tails is in the neighborhood of Cd 0.115.
I've been working for a couple-three weeks on this but am not ready to do the thread yet,but I would tell everyone today,that Cd 0.115 is a reasonable expectation.We can fight over the 'practicality' issue separately.

[RobertSmalls]

Originally Posted by aerohead

I've been working through the 80-90 year old German research. Using the fuselage research reported by S.Hoerner as a guide in comparison to streamlined development models of the gods of vehicle aerodynamics,it looks like the lower limit for cars with boat tails is in the neighborhood of Cd 0.115.
I've been working for a couple-three weeks on this but am not ready to do the thread yet,but I would tell everyone today,that Cd 0.115 is a reasonable expectation.We can fight over the 'practicality' issue separately.

I eagerly await that thread.

Meanwhile, I'm very curious what a car with Cd 0.115 includes. Does it have mirrors? Front and rear wheel skirts? Ground clearance?