Car news.

ddrueding said:
But that car would handle for crap. We need a car with L x W x H Ratios of about 1 x 0.75 x <0.5 for the best performance.
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Mass distribution also enters the equation (lower center of gravity is better) but your observation simply shows the many conflicting requirements between making a vehicle which can cope with real-world driving conditions versus one which can attain maximum possible efficiency. Ultra-low rolling resistance tires also handle poorly, but they save energy. That being said, I do remember seeing concept cars in Popular Science in the 1980s which were perfectly driveable, and had Cds in the 0.12 area. My guess is 0.10 might be attainable in a road-worthy vehicle, but anything less is probably pushing it.

In all honesty, we could save a bundle of energy if everyone who didn't need an SUV switched to a small/medium car with a Cd in the 0.25 to 0.30 area. These 0.12 Cd vehicles would just be the icing on the cake. And laminar flow research might yield very good results without needle-nosed body shapes. I think that box fish car Coug mentioned derived it's aerodynamic efficiency partially from laminar flow.
 
. . . or we could pack 6 people comfortably into a Rolls Royce Phantom and carpool everywhere. I get first dibbs on the bar.

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In all seriousness, jtr is correct -- efficiency and safety seem to be about compromise. Yet, someone like Ford comes along with their new Fusion model, and receive a very lowest side-impact rating. How could they let this happen? Easy, the side-impact airbags aren't standard. So, for a driver side impact, the driver's head hits the object ramming the car, plus they receive fractures to their ribs and pelvic bone. That's not compromise, that's lunacy.
 
Buck said:
That's not compromise, that's lunacy.
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That's Ford, period. The amount of safety screw up by this manufacturer over the last few years is disturbing.

In French, we say F.O.R.D. is for :

Ferraille (rusted iron)
Ordure (garbage)
Rebuts (rejects)
Déchets (waste)
_________
FORD!

See Clocker, I can bash something else than G.M.!

To their defense, they make a few good vehicles too. The Five Hundred isn't bad, although uninspired and the Mustang is a good value among sports cars. Their F-250/350 are supposed to be the sturdiest pick-ups on the market.
 
Here in the UK we say FORD = Fix Or Repair Daily :)

BTW, Hello everyone, I've not been around for a while, just thought to stop by :)
 
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