Ecomodder forum user basjoos decided to do something because of the gas price runup in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He decided to improve his 92 Civic CX car’s gas mileage … by "aero modding" it!
Basjoos wrote that he spent "Probably about 250 hours and a materials cost of about $400 spread out over the past 2 years. It has paid for itself in fuel savings several times over."
Behold, the Aerocivic! Link
Alison
he slapped a bunch of ugly plastic on his car and now it’s fuel-efficient?
R000n3y
Maybe some car company will actually pay attention to things like this eventually instead of building more and more blocky cars that don’t get good milage.
Saemus. Who cares if it doesn’t look great? He’s saving some good money. He can poke that in their faces.
Alison. The pieces make the car more aerodynamic. Get over the dumb looks. It’s a car, a practical device. It’s not for looking great.
aware
is it street-legal?
also, he could always make it an art car, by painting neat designs on it. might even win some cash in an art car contest.
VonSkippy
This “mod” has been discussed on numerous tech/engineering sites – the consensus is: A) it’s major fugly, B) the “claimed” mileage is very (VERY) much in doubt, and C) the overall design is NOT aerodynamically efficient (especially how it’s implemented). Bottom line, this is right up there with 80 mpg carburetor mods and “burn water” scams.
Sid Morrison
His numbers are full of crap. His notchy-looking wheelskirts alone probably *wreck* the aerodynamics. I’ll bet the Cd is worse than teh production vehicle. Turn the car over to a disinterested 3rd party (engineering undergrads at a local university?) and have them run tests. It’s pretty easy.
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Saemus
ted
