[Frank Lee]

^Yes the evidence suggests to me the flow in that region is really quite stagnant on my car and probably the CRX- or any "3-box" design too. As the new stuff approaches a "1-box" design (having a very sloped hood and almost the same angle to the windshield) I suppose it probably would be a different situation via the lack of that stagnant "bubble".

And, not that I have links or anything to back it up, but I would think the vertically parked wiper would be the WORST. For one it's up out of the "bubble", for two vehicles out in the world are for all practical purposes always in yaw. So imagine crossflow across that windshield.

I can think of a reason northerners might like a vert wiper: probably would have a much less tendency to freeze into that big pile of snow and ice we always have at the base of the windshield.

"Do you think the gains of a single front wiper on a crx are worth much, if anything at all?" No.