A fat, bloated Mustang at that. They've stopped trying to pretend that the crease on the hood to the A-pillar is just a character line--now it's a full on puffed up hood right to the fender. What's the point of running the beltline crease forward into the side of the hood? Make it slab-sided and admit it's a bloated pig.
Here is a summary of what I have noticed in the coming world of rear dejour exhaust vents: Honda Civic- The first time I saw this one, I thought that a new Civic had been hit by another vehicle with a black bumper on the rear corner. This design looks like it came from J.C. Whitney: Image Unavailable, Please Login Toyota Camry XSE- I refer to this as the running mascara tail light. Looks like vandalism on a light colored car, but is actually an interesting feature on a dark colored car. In real life, this appears as a thin piece of ribbed trim: Image Unavailable, Please Login Lexus LC Coupe- Apparently Toyota saves the more tasteful designs for the more expensive cars. Have not seen one up close, but hope it is more than 4 pieces of black horizontal trim: Image Unavailable, Please Login BMW 8 Series- Makes one wonder what the engineers and designers intend to be letting out. Brake heat? gravel thrown up by the rear wheels? whatever?: Image Unavailable, Please Login Sorry for the extra Camry photo. Keep getting an extra photo that will not delete.
LOL on J.C. Whitney comment - spot on. Camry vent = face palm. 8 Series = return of the Bangle butt! So, vents for letting out gas maybe.
Me too! Back in the day, these were hot rodder staples: Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I can't find anything much good to say about the new 8 Series. Since the arrival of Bangle, its been pretty much a decline into mediocrity. Image Unavailable, Please Login
The Future of Automotive Aerodynamics It’s not incredible that so many cars look so similar. It’s incredible that cars look different at all. https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/car-technology/a21272157/aerodynamics-car-science/
I guess things haven't really changed all that much, the third gen Firebird had a Cd of 0.29. As I recall, they said they could have gotten it much lower if they could have lowered the front of the car more.
This quote really stood out for me: “We can affect aero maybe 10 percent one way or the other—if the coefficient of drag is .30, maybe we can get it down to .27,” Karbon says. “And that might represent three-tenths of a mile per gallon in fuel economy, depending on the vehicle.” So... the cars are homogenized and the designs are smoothed out to gain 0.3mpg? Why so much effort for so little gain? Given the choice, I'd happily sacrifice 1-2mpg in fuel economy in order to drive an uncompromised design. All the best, Andrew.
Because the Federal Government has strict mileage standards. Every .1 of a mile/gallon makes a huge difference. Otherwise, severe fines, gas guzzler taxes.
And regulations also make this somewhat of a moving target over time. If there is ever another generation of Firebird someday, that Cd is likely to be higher due to the new pedestrian crash standards raising hood heights. In fact, the latest generation of the Camaro has regressed back to around earlier generation Cd values.
Designer I used to work with built his own car http://www.deansgarage.com/2018/designers-cars-al-flowers-razor/
no, you're still dead. However, the regulation is trying to have the pedestrian fly onto the hood and lessen the impact by having the hood collapse. Hence the minimum distance to any 'hard' points under the hood. To me personally, i never understood the requirement, but people a lot smarter than myself have been looking at pedestrian impacts for decades, and they're convinced the requirements will save lives. having said all of that, lambs, Ferraris and Corvettes manage to meet the requirements, so regular production cars don't suffer that much. Once everything becomes electrified and the ICE goes away, there will be plenty of crush space under the hoods of vehicles.
