Yep, horsepower is the reigning king since it so easy, relatively, to produce now. You don't have to worry about making enough power to push a brick through the air.
If people actually wanted to buy them (instead of being forced to do it by the government) the car makers could easily make more aerodynamic cars with slightly smaller engines that would get phenomenal gas mileage. Working examples of this includes the new Mercedes that have crazy low co-efficients of drag (with style!) and Subaru going allll the way down to a 2.0L engine and getting an EPA est. 36mpg out of an AWD family sedan (which means you can actually get better gas mileages).
Individual owners have to do this kind of modification to get great gas mileage at highway speeds: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/MikeMariettaSC/80MPG%20Honda%20Civic/080409_0917a.jpg
But the car makers figure out things like those funny looking bumps on the new Camry headlights and taillights that take quite a cut out of the aerodynamic resistance...
The pictures at the link are fantastic! And the drag coefficient figures are impressive, especially for a car that was potentially a seven-seater!
I suppose it would be more accurate to say that with streamlining came speed ;-) Apparently only the bodywork differed from the Mercedes-Benz W136, and the top speed was increased by almost 30%!
Yep, horsepower is the reigning king since it so easy, relatively, to produce now. You don't have to worry about making enough power to push a brick through the air.
ReplyDeleteIf people actually wanted to buy them (instead of being forced to do it by the government) the car makers could easily make more aerodynamic cars with slightly smaller engines that would get phenomenal gas mileage. Working examples of this includes the new Mercedes that have crazy low co-efficients of drag (with style!) and Subaru going allll the way down to a 2.0L engine and getting an EPA est. 36mpg out of an AWD family sedan (which means you can actually get better gas mileages).
Individual owners have to do this kind of modification to get great gas mileage at highway speeds: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/MikeMariettaSC/80MPG%20Honda%20Civic/080409_0917a.jpg
But the car makers figure out things like those funny looking bumps on the new Camry headlights and taillights that take quite a cut out of the aerodynamic resistance...
The pictures at the link are fantastic! And the drag coefficient figures are impressive, especially for a car that was potentially a seven-seater!
ReplyDeleteI suppose it would be more accurate to say that with streamlining came speed ;-)
Apparently only the bodywork differed from the Mercedes-Benz W136, and the top speed was increased by almost 30%!
Either way I guess. But if you wanted more speed, you needed more streamlining... Moot point, probably.
ReplyDeleteI meant the title in the sense that before cars became speedy, there was no need for streamlining.
ReplyDeleteBut it's not important...
Reminds me a bit of Bucky Fuller's car
ReplyDelete