Thread: Corvettes?
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Old 08-23-2009, 09:18 AM   #21 (permalink)
bluetwo
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jamesqf View Post
This of course depends on your standards for pretty good fuel economy. To me, 30 mpg or so highway seems pretty darned bad.



But the Corvettes aren't all that aerodynamic, with Cd values over 0.3 (depending on model). The aerodynamic engineering (as opposed to styling) that does go into the design is probably aimed more at creating downforce at speed, rather than reducing drag. They do get some advantage from having a fairly small cross-section area, so CdA is probably lower than most cars. But they're also pretty heavy.

If you want something similar, I'd start with a CRX (I got over 40 mpg with mine even the way I drove it :-)) or del Sol, a Miata, MR2...
All very true, and I know all that, as do most here on this site I think. There are still people who think the Corvette is much like the common muscle car where it just drinks gas and has no aerodynamic benefit, so thankfully that's not the case. For a BIG V8 Vettes can get really good mileage, of course if you're comparing a CRX it's not really too good at all.

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