The most Aerodynamic car in the market?

The key question here appears to be--what is the best EXISTING and AVAILABLE aerodynamic car. Concept cars don't count. Cars that WERE produced, but, for one reason or another, and not NOW available to the general public are also not valid comparisons.

All of the research I have done/seen tells me the Prius wins this one. As near as I recall, the last PRODUCTION car available to the general public, that had a better drag coefficient, was the Insight, which is NO LONGER IN PRODUCTION.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Balt @ Mar 2 2007, 01:17 AM) [snapback]398969[/snapback]</div>

:blink:

Anyone who has the slightest clue about automobile aerodynamics would know that wasn't true.

Wide tires increase Cd. Wings, spoilers, and other downforce generating devices increase Cd. High-end exotic cars with wide tires and big aerodynamic aids have HIGH Cd, not low Cd.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Mar 2 2007, 09:54 AM) [snapback]399139[/snapback]</div>

It was a MiG-25, not a plane from the Sukhoi bureau, that was the threat the F-15 was designed against. And after that Soviet pilot defected to Japan in one, we found out that we designed a plane against a threat that didn't exist.

The F-15 was designed for air superiority (dogfighting), which takes place at subsonic and transonic speeds. An interceptor would be "optimized for supersonic flight", and that isn't the primary role of the F-15. Otherwise we'd have ended up with a plane that could do Mach 3.2 (while destroying its engines) in a straight line and little else, like the MiG-25. Just compare the difference in wing loading - it's obvious the F-15 was designed for maneuverability and the MiG-25 for speed. The F-15's wing loading is barely half that of the MiG.

People sure do like to take liberties with facts on this forum.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(priusenvy @ Mar 4 2007, 07:09 AM) [snapback]399841[/snapback]</div>

Hi Priusenvy,

Thanks for the correction. Although, the "Streak Eagle" did break the time to climb world record, and Boeing says the F-15 is about 400 mph faster than an F 4. Wikipedia says the Mig-25 is about 200 mph faster tha the F15. References:

http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/eagle.htm
http://www.boeing.com/history/mdc/phantomII.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-25

.16 is not a very good subsonic aircraft Cd as this page shows many aircraft below .050. The lowest being the P-51D with a Cd of about .018. The key is back a few pages. The half-shaded circle is the code for the P-51D.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-468/ch7-5.htm


I think the .16 for the F15 must be in error. I could not find a citation with the F15 Cd, but this table shows many jets with Cd of .016 and lower:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/SP-468/app-a3.htm


Here is the Wikipedia Cd web page here is it. It has pictures of all sorts of aerodynamic cars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_Coefficient

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(donee @ Mar 4 2007, 12:52 PM) [snapback]399980[/snapback]</div>

The point I was trying to make was that the F-15 was designed as an air superiority fighter first and foremost, and top-speed was a secondary concern. It wasn't designed to be faster than the MiG-25, it was designed to combat what the West thought (due to bad intelligence) was a Mach 3.2 air superiority fighter, but in fact, the MiG-25 was a interceptor with no dogfighting capability at all. The F-15 fell well short of the MiG-25's top speed, but that was not the primary design goal. It did succeed at what it was designed for, being the premier air superiority fighter in the world at the time it was introduced and the following 20 or so years.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Delta Flyer @ Mar 4 2007, 12:28 AM) [snapback]399773[/snapback]</div>

I got 65 - 85 MPG drafting between 48-62 mph. It is not extreme, more like driving safely like a grandma. :lol:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=14...96454&hl=en