I was just looking through the
list of drag coefficients in the wiki (like ya do...) and noticed something interesting: the 2001-05 Civic has a Cd of .36 while the 2003-05 Civic hybrid has a Cd of just .28! After looking closely at pictures of the hybrid, it seems the only body differences are:
1) an upper grill that looks to be mostly or completely solid
2) a small lip spoiler on the rear
3) a plastic tray under the engine compartment
4) redesigned external mirrors that have a smaller attachment point and allow air to flow between the body and mirror
5) .6" lower.
My question is: how is it possible that those (minor) differences are enough to lower the drag coefficient by .08 (more than 20%)? Am I not seeing something significant in the alterations to the hybrid model? Or is the number wrong?
The reason I ask is because, if it's correct, that low of a coefficient seems easy to attain--and it makes me wonder where my car is with what I've done to it so far....