Cd of european 'fastback' Cruze?

[gone-ot]

Does anybody know if the Cd-value for the european 'fastback' Cruze is any better than our plain-Jane 'sedan' Cruze (~0.32)?

This is what the 'fastback' looks like:

[ChazInMT]

Lotsa Specs (including .352Cd.....ouch)

Perhaps

[gone-ot]

Ouch, indeed! I was *hoping* that it was lower than the sedan...oh well.

And, "Thanks," I'd totally forgotten about that website!

[ChazInMT]

Yeah, surprised me too, I looked at Cd's of a number of cars which have Sedan & Hatch variants and have noticed that even though the Hatch models appear to be a dead ringer for the "Template" they never seem to have a lower Cd. It is another reason I gave up on trying to modify my Civic sedan, there must be something about the modern sedan, when done right, that fairly well optimizes it. I gotta believe there is a team of people whose sole purpose in life at automakers is to get the aero tweeked just so. May not have been that way 15 to 20 years ago, but certainly since.

2¢ from me. ChaCHING

[Cd]

.352 is disgusting !
That's a pickup truck Cd !

The 1992-1995 Civic Hatch had a Cd of .31, while the sedan had a .32 .
The next generation hatch jumped to .36 !

So Cd values really are unpredictable.





I would have thought the Cd to be lower on the hatch Cruze, simply because the rear glass is way too steep for good flow attachment on the sedan.
At least the hatch has a 'trip' strip in the form of a spoiler.

We have seen high Cds like this with other cars such as the 1996 Civic hatch and the Focus hatch, which both fell at around .36 mark .







I find it interesting that the Cruze is also around that .36 mark .
Could it have something to do with vortices created as the air spills over the sides of the rear quarter panel ?
If you notice, all three of these high drag designs have the same rear shape with the quarter panel protruding past the spoiler line.

[Cd]

Any aero guys here have an explanation for the high Cd increase with longer rear quarters on the cars listed above ?