[donee]

Hi XJ,

I think the problem is where the maximum chord is. In the 2nd Gen Prius the maximum chord was over the forward part of the front seat location. But in the 3rd Gen Prius is over the rear seat. This results in either a steeper angle from the maximun chord to the rear of the car (over the top of the car), or a higher rear spoiler position.

So, the air flyies up the forward ramp surfaces, and gets shot off, creating a delamination bubble. And the steeper rear angle, or higher rear spoiler does nothing to keep the air attached, and probably exacerbates the delamination.

While the 3rd Gen Prius have better side rear transistions, it also has a much bumpier side construction. The 2nd Gen Prius was perfectly smooth along the sides of the car. The 3rd Gen has all this malarky muscle car tire bulge bs. Which can only create drag. There is not allot I can do about that.

I began looking for A-pilar problems, as I hear tremendous turbulence there with side winds, in comparison to the 2nd Gen Prius. But putting tubulators there apparently made things worse, based on salt patterns. They may have traded off in-line Cd for cross wind Cd with the design changes to the windshield inset in that area.

Besides the tires being larger, the wheel well openings are huge in comparison to the tire size, on the Gen 3 compared to the Gen 2. Just plain silly - the car is designed to be lowered, rather than properly design for the tire sizes in the first place. Since its impractical to lower the Prius here with all the pot-holes, its just a pain the way the car is now.