The relationship of MPG & Wheelbase

[RandomFact314]

So does anyone know if there is any relationship between a cars wheelbase and their MPG?

I just figured out the wheelbase is directly related to length. Well my old Fiero is the same wheelbase to my g/f's rio but their length is a 3 inch difference, which I know is nothing, that is the difference between a big bumper or not...

Anyways, is there a relationship with the wheelbase and the mpg?

[Frank Lee]

You'd sure think so.

But then there's quite a few guys with, for example, 92' cars that claim similar fe to normal sized cars. I'd say they are doing dang good!

[RobertSmalls]

FE is determined by frontal area * Cd, by curb weight * CRR, and by the efficiency of the powerplant. So short wheelbase cars get better gas mileage to the extent that they are small, slippery, and lightweight.

Correlation does not prove causation. Rather, what we have here is that cars which are small have good FE, and cars which are small have short wheelbases. But moving the wheels closer together on your Neon would be inadvisable and ineffective.

[Christ]

To further explain what RobertSmalls said:

It was found that areas with more than one Catholic Church tend to have a higher crime rate. Some other religions then decided that Catholics were criminals, by association.

The reality was that highly populated areas which had more than one Catholic Church typically had the same average per capita crime rates, but more crimes per day.

IOW - It wasn't because there were more Churches, even though one could draw that conclusion from the evidence (or lack thereof) provided.

[RandomFact314]

Well it's not like I ever thought that there WAS a relationship between the 2 beside the weight, I never even thought of shortening the neons wheel base (lol, absurd idea ) I was just curious if there was some secret about the wheel base and MPG that I didn't know about since I didn't even know what wheelbase was until today...

[Christ]

Well, good. :P

In most cases, if you were going to attempt to streamline a small car, you might actually do better to extend the wheel base to get a better angle for descent from roof line to tail break. This isn't always going to be true, but I'd bet in many cases it is, since the angle is presumably better the more slight it is, and you don't want to mess with the car's center of balance by extending the rear too far from the tires.