12 of the most aerodynamic cars in production right now

[Xist]

Oh, it is the end of the world when someone's phone dies!

[kach22i]

What caught my attention was the cars not in or not allowed into the US market.

Also I was unaware of some of these car models, but I'm not a big sedan fan either.

More sedans than fastbacks...................guess they don't use a template to cookie cutter their designs.

[serialk11r]

My friend just bought a CLA recently. On the freeway, at 80mph he was getting better gas mileage than my much smaller car gets doing 70mph...and the C pillars don't even taper inward! That is probably more because of the gearing and better engine but normally at 80mph the drag is pretty serious whereas the CLA just shrugs it off.

My guess is that Mercedes Benz is paying a lot of attention to the wheel wells and underbody, because their cars never have any greenhouse plan taper. Porsche cars look like they should have a smaller wake but the Cd ends up higher despite the clever radiator ducting and wind deflectors and everything. They do put rather fat tires on Porsches though. Makes you wonder if it's possible to improve aero significantly with just modified fenders and wheel spat thingies.

[elhigh]

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

...yes, the "magic" of trained electrons at your (or MS's or NSA's) service!

Like I asked my kid "...but, what are you gonna DO when the batteries die in your calculator?" when he tried to argue against doing his "times" & "divides" homework exercises by hand--using HIS brain instead of a calcultor.

I tried that argument with my kid. He popped the cover off.

"No sweat. Solar panel."

[Xist]

Originally Posted by elhigh

I tried that argument with my kid. He popped the cover off.

"No sweat. Solar panel."

Smart kid!

[NeilBlanchard]

The VW XL1 is the lowest CdA car ever produced. 1.5 sq m = 16.1 sq ft X 0.19 = 3.059 sq ft CdA.

Cd is more important than frontal area, because once the Cd get lower, it has a much larger effect on lowering the drag. It is much more practical and is actually easier to lower the Cd than it is to lower the area.

An example: take a medium sized car that has a frontal area of 25 sq ft and a Cd of 0.34. The CdA is 8.5 sq ft.

If you reduce the Cd to 0.2, then the CdA is 5 sq ft. If you tried to reduce the area to get that low, without also improving the Cd, the frontal area would have to be 14.7 sq ft - which too tiny to be very practical.

[Sonny Cash]

thanks for this thread! the s class surprised the hell outta me. its fkn huge!! gotta hand it to the germans at first i thought they where just overpriced like a mac. but after paying attention to theyre technology and such theyre paving the way. and the mazda 3's CD is an impressive .26 ill take one of those any day

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard

Cd is more important than frontal area, because once the Cd get lower, it has a much larger effect on lowering the drag. It is much more practical and is actually easier to lower the Cd than it is to lower the area.

That's a bold stance, but I cannot say that I disagree with it.

Back when we compared the first generation Honda Insight to the GM Impact/ EV1 I came out with the impression Cd was more important than Area. However as with most things in life every case should be taken individually as generalizations can be misleading.

[NeilBlanchard]

The physics is the physics. The VW XL1 is lowest frontal area I know of. On other threads people complain it is small and cramped. So, we need to lower the Cd, and consider the practical requirements, rather than get overly concerned with frontal area.

The Pillbug is a huge frontal area, but with a Cd of 0.18, and the ability to carry up to 7 people, it has lower drag than almost anything we have on the road today.

The Cd is the best way to compare the aerodynamic design across the spectrum of vehicles.

[aerohead]

Originally Posted by elhigh

The M-B B-class seems to be applying lessons learned from the Boxfish (actually called the Bionic) concept. Its Cd was the same as the XL1 at 0.19. Larger area of course, the XL1 being not only the shape but also the size of a large suppository.

If we're very fortunate,we'll live to see suppository car forms dating to 1907.
The Physicians Desk Reference illustrates some beautiful,fluid dynamic, rectal and vaginal versions.