Article: ecomodding a vanilla Renault production sedan... efficiency up 19%

[IRONICK]

Originally Posted by renault_megane_dci

Gasoline is never gonna see any consumption that low but all the aerodynamics are on the card.

Changes from #20 are made on the production car equipped with 1200cm³ 16v engine.

[IRONICK]

A prototype made of fiberglass on a similar car.
From 43.56 to 45.23 MPG MPG. (5.4l/100km> 5.2l/100km).

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by IRONICK

A prototype made of fiberglass on a similar car.
From 43.56 to 45.23 MPG MPG. (5.4l/100km> 5.2l/100km).

Is that only for the spare wheel area or is it a full belly pan ?

[IRONICK]

Yes, is just for for the spare wheel area.

[robchalmers]

funny they picked the dacia logan.... its a bring aero wise!, that engine is in the clio and new megane coupe both of you'd have thought could draw benefits from the aero.

[EdKiefer]

Does it have front wheel deflectors , didn't seem like it from pic's ?

On little off topic, I notice my 08 accord has wheel deflectors front/rear, but they only stick out to little more than 1/2 tire width , unlike here that covers almost whole tread width .

Wonder if thats done for cosmetic's , so its not noticeable .

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by IRONICK

Yes, is just for for the spare wheel area.

thanks

Originally Posted by robchalmers

funny they picked the dacia logan.... its a bring aero wise!, that engine is in the clio and new megane coupe both of you'd have thought could draw benefits from the aero.

i think you meant it's a brick, right ? 0.360 drag is bad for this day and age I agree with you, but think of the possibilities in better aero cars.

In it's defence (Dacia Logan being made in Romania and me being from there ) this car is mostly designed for newly emerged markets let's say with a lot of pothole roads which is why it has high ground clearance (155mm) and it has quite a big trunk for it's class, it wasn't designed to break aerodynamic records but to haul large amounts of stuff / people around which I've seen it do remarkably well.

Some older model Dacia's have a reputation of motorised donkeys, take a look:

[Piwoslaw]

Dacias!! I love Dacias!!
And I get a kick out of seeing how cars are used in post-communist (and so-called third-world) countries. It's just plain boring seeing all the new, shiny, expensive cars in the city. Go to the boonies and you see what extreme sport means

The Dacia Logan is similar to our 307sw, same dimensions, also a 7-seater, etc. But I'm glad we got Svietlana, her Cd=0.33 is barely good enough by today's standards. Cd=0.36 would be OK for a sports car, not a production economy wagon.

[robchalmers]

sorry don't get me I love the logan purely for it work-horse nature. I love basic, simple, easy to work on cars (hence my polo d) and the Logan is I think the best modern car if you still need to repair it in the middle of a field, in winter, in a storm, in the dark.

Is it true that the older renault 9 dacias only needed a 13mm spanner, a 17mm, a X-head screw driver, a plug spanner and hammer as a tool kit?

[Laurentiu]

Originally Posted by robchalmers

sorry don't get me I love the logan purely for it work-horse nature. I love basic, simple, easy to work on cars (hence my polo d) and the Logan is I think the best modern car if you still need to repair it in the middle of a field, in winter, in a storm, in the dark.

Is it true that the older renault 9 dacias only needed a 13mm spanner, a 17mm, a X-head screw driver, a plug spanner and hammer as a tool kit?

it was actually the Renault 12 based Dacia 1300/1310, not Renault 9 . Renault 9 was more modern but I guess the R 12 was quite sturdy.
My father had a couple of grew up and I have to say they were very sturdy, especially the earlier models (early 70's). You could possibly repair it with those tools but the engine was quite reliable and although I remember my father tinkering on it from time to time, it was mostly easy repairs as a matter of fact I can say that most people in those days in Romania used to do all the repairs themselves.
Dacia 1300/1310 was practically the ONLY sedan(very few Lada's, Oltcit's and some Trabant's) it was not only the family car but also ambulance, police car, officials tricked out ones etc. , so it was a matter of time until most drivers with a bit of technical inclination knew how to fix it, I remember helping him sometimes and learning some useful stuff which I use even today, I only go to a garage for some serious engine faults that I don't have the tools/information about to fix. It's so much easier nowadays with internet, back then it was just word of mouth.



One car that was even more notoriously easy to fix was definitely the Trabant with it's 18HP, two stroke, two cylinder engines . Kind of eco-bombs nightmares though, I would think.