Ernie Rogers said:
Thanks for the nice remarks. As far as I can tell, my wing lowers the Cd of the Beetle ( 0.38 before) to about the same as the Jetta with no wing (0.30). I agree with the remarks above about "lip" spoilers working by promoting flow separation. The Toyota Camry is an example of pretty good rear end design with a sharp edge built in all around the back-- its Cd is 0.28.
In order to get really good (low) drag, somebody has to make the effort to design a radically improved production car body. Toyota is making a good try on the Prius (Cd = 0.26?) but somebody can do much better.
So far, I don't see VW making any effort, but they are very secretive. The head design guy at the VW Design Center in California designed the Audi 3, a very low drag car sold in Europe. (Hope I remember that right.) I heard that BMW is selling a car in Europe rated at 100 mpg (?)
I read that the B4 Passat has an incredibly low Cd -- .25 or something. I may have the number wrong, but I remember being very surprised by it.
I wonder about the new A5 Jetta compared to the A4. I also wonder about the new Civic, which is very Prius-like.
Hey, great work on the Bug! I wonder if smoothed-over, Moon-style hubcaps would help much. Along with the wing it could be an interesting retro hotrod look. Remember the "Cal" style Bugs of the 60s and 70s?
I think we should put pressure on VW to get serious. They could build a Jetta-sized car that gets 90 mpg TOMORROW if they put their minds to it.
I have no doubt about this.
My old Rabbit Diesel hit over 70 MPG several times, cruising at 45-50 MPH on the Interstate in a snowstorm. This was the early, German built one with a normal (not wide ratio) 5 speed, weighing about 2000 LB. (Most of the time I got 45-50 MPG.)
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