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Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Question About Cars

Have a look at this car:




This is a Ferrari Enzo. It is a car built to go insanely fast. To that end it has a 6L, V-12 engine which produces 651 hp and 485 ft-lb of torque. It does 0-60 in 3.1 seconds and can go as fast as 226 mph. Predictably, it costs more than a million dollars to buy. All in all, it has very little in common with this car:



 This is a Toyota Prius. It's designed to be economical (fuel-wise anyway) - it is claimed to squeeze 66 miles out of every gallon of petrol. It has a 1.8L engine which produces 98hp and 105 ft-lb of torque. The electric battery does add power, but it still only get 134hp at most. Top speed: Unremarkable.

However, for different reasons, both cars share one common interest - reducing drag. Both cars would like it if the air surrounding them presented as little resistance to them as possible.

This brings me, in a very roundabout way to my question: I may be wrong, but I assume that, of these two, the Ferrari is designed for better aerodynamic performance - after all, it is more likely to be going at speeds where drag is a huge issue. So, if drag is a major player in economy and mileage and the Prius’ party piece is its endurance - why does it not try to emulate the Ferrari's body shape !?! Heck, why aren't ALL cars built to look like supercars !?! Maybe copyright issues may be a reason, the need for family cars to have rear seats and a boot may be another, but nevertheless, they can surely be made to look similar.

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