With all the new features installed in every car manufactured in the last decade, the one would think that people could never have driven a car with some of the basics, such as the aerodynamics, but they would be wrong because the 10 least aerodynamic cars ever made were and are still popular among people.
Before we proceed to see these models, let’s see first what the aerodynamics actually is and how it is measured.
Aerodynamics is a science about the way air interact with the moving bodies, how it goes around and inside those bodies. Its biggest concerns are aircraft and cars, mainly because of the speed, but it is also used while building bridges, homes, and even the balls. It has been the part of the car manufacturing practice since the early age when car engineers started developing a lot faster cars but soon realized that wind resistance has highly affected the speed of the car. The first improvements were made on the racing cars, but it soon became the practice among every other model.
The aerodynamics of each car is affected by 4 forces: weight, thrust, lift, and drag. The changes the engineers make on any of them automatically changes the way the car moves. Besides these forces, the shape of the car also has a lot of the influence on the length of the car floats through the air.
The aerodynamic value of a car is determined by the drag coefficient (Cd) and the lower the Cd is, the more aerodynamic car is. According to the DriveMag’s report from the March 2017, the most aerodynamic car made by this year is the Volkswagen XL1 (limited edition) that has the most amazing Cd figure ever achieved so far – 0.189.
These effects are usually measured by the wind tunnel, but engineers also found the way to figure the Cd out by using special computer programs. But what is the wind tunnel and how does it work? The wind tunnel is actually a huge tunnel filled in with the gigantic fans. During the ride, fans are moved to simulate the real world conditions and change their speed. During this ride, outside the tunnel is a group of engineers that use computers for measuring the capacity of the air flows around the vehicle and the reaction of different parts of the car.
And what effect does the aerodynamics of the car have? First of all, it affects the fuel consumption, the harder the car passes through the air, the more fuel it spends.it also affects the comfort and by that I mean the noise, turbulence, and cooling. But more importantly, it affects the stability and the safety of the car.
Now, when I have seen it all, I have to ask, why would anyone living in the 21st century buy any of 10 least aerodynamic cars ever made?
