Honda Civic landspeeder

[basjoos]

Here's a photo of my car.


I didn't start out trying to create a spaceship car, I set out trying to improve my gas mileage by reducing my car's aerodynamic drag, but the end result, in addition to getting over 90 mpg at 65 mph, has a very Sci-fi look to it and a friend said it looks like a Star Wars vehicle. It gets lots of stares and photos taken wherever I go and has saved me a lot of money at the gas pump. More photos of my car are at smg.photobucket.com/albums/v417/MikeMariettaSC/80MPG%20Honda%20Civic/

[Darth Marmalade]

That's awesome! For both the Star Wars aesthetic, and for the fuel economy -- how come the car companies can't make a car that'll get 90 mpg, especially if all it takes is some streamlining?

I've seen your car somewhere before on the internets. Glad to have you aboard!

[basjoos]

All of that streamlining is 70 year old technology, so I don't know why the car companies won't use it. The Germans were designing streamlined cars in the 1930's so they could go faster on the Autobahn. There's a 150mph 1939 Maybach that has a shape very similar to that of my car, so there's nothing new in what I did to my car. Pictures of my car have showed up on various on-line news sites from time to time because of the high mpg's. I'm in the process of further fairing in the wheels for better mileage (and as a fringe benefit to further improve the wheel-less "floating" landspeeder look). A video of my car in action is at:

www.wcnc.com/video/index.html?nvid=242961&shu=1

[uscgocox]

i seriously doubt your car is getting 90 mpg because you added some aerodynamics to it. You wouldn't get that much improvement from aerodynamics. That's about double of what the CRX HF could get.

[Darth Marmalade]

If you doubt it, man, then do the experiment! That's what science is about.

He did say 90 mpg on the highway, so yeah, maybe the streamlining doesn't help as much at lower speeds. Still, it's got to have some effect. Or not! Let us know your results when you've streamlined a car in similar fashion.

[uscgocox]

Looking at the photo, he hasn't streamlined the front of that civic, where it really counts...the front end and windshield angle are all the same. But I guess you got me there. Kind of like asking me to definitively prove there's no dinosaurs left alive.

[uscgocox]

well gee...the video says 70 mpg.

[basjoos]

I streamlined the front end. Also greatly reduced the size of the radiator inlet, added fairings over the wiper blades and relocated the side mirrors and antenna to the interior of the vehicle (photos taken before the antenna mod), and other aero drag reduction mods. The Cd is 0.17 as calculated by coastdown tests.

FYI, the back end is where it really counts. Adding the boattail produced the single largest mpg improvement of any of the aero mods I that added.

[Darth Marmalade]

I've avoided posting, because I really don't want to get into a flame war over this.

I think this is a really nifty car, and that the concept should be developed further. I'll gladly listen to any reasoned argument supplemented by facts, but so far we've got one person saying "I did this" and backing it up with photos and video, and another saying "No, you didn't" and backing it up with nothing at all. The discrepancy between 90mpg and 70mpg is valid and significant, but easily explained (the car is a work in progress, and improvements have been made since the video), and even if one figure is in error, 70mpg is still d**ned impressive.

I'm sure someone with an engineering or physics background could say for sure whether a 90mpg Honda Civic is impossible -- there's only so much energy in a gallon of gas, and it can push x amount of mass only so far so fast -- but right now, I'm inclined to believe the claims of someone who's actually done some work on the problem over the objections of an [edit] observer with "serious doubts".

[basjoos]

I get 95mpg when cruising at a steady speed between 30 and 65mph on a flat road in the summer. That 70mpg is my tank average (what I calculate when I gas up), which includes city driving, cold engine starts, parking, and all of the other slow speed/start and stop stuff that depresses the mileage. I typically average mid 70's in the summer and mid 60's inthe winter. The last 2 tanks of gas I used have been 77 and 76 mpg. Basically what I have done is reduce the load on my engine at highway speeds by significantly reducing the aero drag load on the car. Any reduction in engine load also reduces the fuel consumption of the engine. My car got mid to upper 40's before I started aero modding it and these mods could be done to any car (except the Aptera which comes already aero modded from the factory) to improve its mileage. Check out ecomodders to see other vehicles (ranging from Honda CRX's to Jeeps) that people have aero modded to improve gas mileage. Mine is just a fairly extreme example of an ecomodded vehicle.

[uscgocox]

but didn't you just start the flaming war, even though you don't want to start a flaming war? If you agree or disagree say so...there's really no need to question what i have or have not done to my car or what education i might have, is there? Almost like politics...instead of attacking the issue, attack the person...

However, you are right...I have not and do not intend to convert my Supra into something like that honda...beauty is in the eye of the beholder, right?

[uscgocox]

So....I checked out the site....perhaps under very specific conditions (flat road at 85F, 95mpg at 30 to 65mph) and with hypermiling...you do get the mileage you claim, fair enough, I guess.

Any plans for electric?

[Darth Marmalade]

I'm very sorry if you felt that I was attacking you and not the issue. That was not my intent. "Armchair quarterback" was name-calling, and I apologize.

[Red Two]

basjoos, if you can smooth out those lumps, or exemplify them in the paint job, you are going to have one of the most unique cars going -and that is cool (regardless of the mileage).

Look forward to more of your car and less of these petty diverging posts! ;D

[basjoos]

My car is still a work in progress. As soon as I finalize all of my aero mods, I will clean them up a bit. But then, unlike in the Star Trek world where all vehicles are shiny and new, in the Star Wars world, many of the vehicles are beat up and well used, often with second-hand repairs and alterations, so the appearance on my car would fit right in.