• From: Bethel Park PA
  • Registered: 2004-06-27
  • Posts: 686

Topic: Drag

At some time in the past, I had read something that said the Coefficient of Drag of the VW Bus was less than that of the Beetle.  I can't find anything referencing the bus information at all.

The Cd of the Beetle is 0.38; does anyone know what the Cd of the bus is, or where I can find it?

David H
'66 VW Beetle w/sunroof
http://tinyurl.com/qhw59
"Where am I going ... and why am I in this handbasket?"
  • From: Colorado Springs, CO
  • Registered: 2004-03-27
  • Posts: 3,622

Re: Drag

  • From: Bethel Park PA
  • Registered: 2004-06-27
  • Posts: 686

Re: Drag

Thanks Clancy, that clears it up for me.  Maybe what I (thought I) had read before was a mixture of several sources.  A few sources show the Bug's Cd as 0.38 so that's probably right.  Maybe the digfferences in the bus's figures are due to several eras of busses being measured.

At any rate the 0.42-0.45 figures for the bus and 0.38 for the Beetle are certainly a lot higher than the mid 0.20's of modern cars.

David H
'66 VW Beetle w/sunroof
http://tinyurl.com/qhw59
"Where am I going ... and why am I in this handbasket?"
  • From: Vancouver Canada
  • Registered: 2004-04-28
  • Posts: 441

Re: Drag

David, I don't know where you got that info, but an aircooled Beetle's Cd is well above .4.  Maybe the .38 you found was for the new watercooled imposter?

Modern cars rarely dip into the 0.20s, most are low to mid .30s.

  • From: Bethel Park PA
  • Registered: 2004-06-27
  • Posts: 686

Re: Drag

Bruce, see:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag_coefficient

Maybe not the ultimate reference, but close enough for comparison purposes.

As you can see, the 0.38 is indeed the VW Type 1 air cooled Beetle.  As you can also see, there are several production cars in the 0.20s range.

David H
'66 VW Beetle w/sunroof
http://tinyurl.com/qhw59
"Where am I going ... and why am I in this handbasket?"