The Woj Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 Found this article on wired.com about the "Aerocivic." According to the article, the guy who built it spent about $400 on materials, but now gets up to 95 MPG. Some links from the article: A thread the owner started on ecomodder forum. Pictures of the car and the building process. How he measured his coefficient of drag. A German site showing pre-WWII German aerodynamic experiments (hit the tour button at the bottom to see lots of pictures). I realize his testing methods aren't the most scientific, and that his photo gallery states 80 MPG and his user on the forum states 64 MPG. Still some interesting reading, and gives a good visualization of aerodynamic mods. Boy is it ugly, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.I.jonas Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 that is so hideous it could never be worth it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TONY C Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 at $3 + per gallon. almost anything is worth it. almost.? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 I think he should make some fiberglass panels and really button up the looks of the car and give it a nice coat of low-resistance paint (lol), so that he can somewhat relieve the atrociousness. Now if he can take a page from the book of that student who Air Conditioned his car using a home unit to the point where his nipples were hard enough to break into bank vaults, he could have a self-propelled frozen land missile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 that is so hideous it could never be worth it. well... it's probably easier and nicer with the s30 trunk shape... give it a go Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nizm0Zed Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 WTF????? If he's seriously so concerned with the price of fuel that he has to do that, then either convert to electric, or buy a friggin pushbike!!! Just looking at those pics, im sort of wondering if he just built all that stuff permanantly over the original bumper and lights, ect ect, Coz there is a whole lot of weight he could get rid of there. im thinking this bloke is one of the reasons people think americans can be a bit dumb???:grin: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 well i wouldn't say he's dumb. he's just having fun with a project. I mean, he's probably just testing aero right now and will cut weight off later once it's all good to go. perhpas there are state laws regarding the modification of the car's structure dependant on when it was made, so he can't remove any of the factory stuff right now. he did say he used that car because that was the car he had. pretty simple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 Unfortunately in a society like America you get a bad rap because we tend to publicize our own stupidity more than anything. The media markets think it makes better ratings. Americans in general aren't the dumb rednecks other countries think we are, but in the same respect with our abundant population and overzealous mediaphiles we present all our faults and ignorance to the world. Sadly we do have a lot of morons here though...Somehow I end up working with them on a regular basis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
naviathan Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 That car is hideous...I would like to see some real data showing the aerodynamic effects and the fuel mileage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TeamNissan Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 It so easy to sit back and judge...... I think for what its worth he did a great job. Making a car look pretty is easy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juarez88 Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 I'm pretty sure the person who made it wasn't planning on making it a show car. Seeing that is gets 80-90mpg, he will save around 30-50 bucks a month if he were to drive that as a daily It's pretty cool. Not the best looking, but who cares. Once I read it was a civic I knew it wasn't going to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Woj Posted December 30, 2007 Author Share Posted December 30, 2007 While I agree that it is quite hideous, I don't see why any of you are questioning the owner's intelligence. He is at the least very knowledgeable on the subject of aerodynamics. So, he made a '92 Civic Hatchback look uglier - this makes him stupid? I would say that he just created the most functional Honda body kit ever made. Function over form - to me - is what separates the true car enthusiast from the ricer. And, to lighten the mood of my post - a reminder of how this car could have turned out: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 come on, Woj.. That blue body kit has a function. Cars that go zipping around the International Space Station are supposed to look the part, at the very least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 You know, I must admit I'm pretty disappointed in the negative comments made about what this guy did. Those of you who commented negatively clearly "don't get it". The owner of that car has a goal in mind... He's not making it look pretty, he's making it functional and doing a hell of a job, I might add. A lot of people hate the looks of the Zcar with a big wing on it and all closed up in the front... but it works too... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 I'm going to agree with Mike. Sure I poked fun and made suggestions, but he did do what he wanted to do... and uhhhh.... it works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 I think he should move closer to work. Don't understand long commutes. He has some pretty good science in his methods. Can't believe he can actually measure a 2-3 mpg hit from using his lights, and more importantly was able to determine the majority was from the parking lights. But like one auto designer once said, anyone can make an aerodynamic car. the trick is to make one that looks good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluntmaster280 Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 That has to be the first honda civic body kit that actually does something useful. Most just make it look like if an alien mated with a car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badjuju Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 funny thing is, it does exactly the opposite of what most ricers think their body kits do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vintage Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 Making a car look pretty is easy. Come do mine. If fuel mileage of a civic is that important to the guy, so be it. I wont drive it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buZy Posted December 30, 2007 Share Posted December 30, 2007 You know, I must admit I'm pretty disappointed in the negative comments made about what this guy did. Those of you who commented negatively clearly "don't get it". The owner of that car has a goal in mind... He's not making it look pretty, he's making it functional and doing a hell of a job, I might add. Mike Amen! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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