Quote:
Originally Posted by RobertSmalls
Though I haven't gotten my Insight out of the driveway yet, I expect the biggest gains vs EPA to come from driving technique. Conserving momentum, DWB, and EOC will drastically boost FE around town.
There are two reasons this car will be a P&G champ. One, it will roll very well due to low rolling and aero resistance. Two, check out the sweet spot on the BSFC plot. It's at 4000 RPM, and probably around 50HP! So it's not only okay to accelerate quickly, it's encouraged (as long as you put 100% of your newfound kinetic energy to good use). Google the Insight 1-2-5 shift.
An Insight's boattail can be much shorter than on most cars, because Honda already tapered the body down to a small area where the car abruptly ends. However, due to the small cross sectional area of the rear wake, the benefit of a boattail would also be smaller than on a Civic hatch. Still maybe worth doing.
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Regardless of how small the wake of the Insight is,It's Cd 0.25,and potential for Cd 0.125 still offers a 25% MPG HWY improvement from the single boat tail modification.If you have Hucho's book,you will know that this is your only path to lower drag,since Honda did such a good job with the rest of the car.------------- How you accomplish it can take many paths.