Fiat 500 and Abarth Drag Coefficients

[Fiat500USA]

Fiat500USA.com Has Just Posted the Following:

The Fiat 500 is surprisingly aerodynamic. Through careful design and the use of the wind tunnel, the European Fiat 500 achieved a 0.325 coefficient of drag. That's better than a bunch of slinky sports cars like the Ferrari F40, F50, Testarossa and 360, the Corvette Z06, and Dodge Viper GTS.* This is even more remarkable because the 500 is a relatively tall and stubby car compared to the more

Read more here...

[smark]

All manufacturers vehicle are wind tested. The average modern automobile achieves a drag coefficient of between 0.25 and 0.3. One Mercedes, A class sedan achieves .22. Which is the lowest of any production car. Another vehicle which slightly lower. Is the brand new Lucid EV. Drag coefficient of 0.21.

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I'm confused about the real cD. I'm not sure if the media people just got the figures wrong. I like that you show the various model changes.

Some of the official press releases contradict one another. I have read .325 cD on the 500, but that was for the Euro models. (I searched "fiat 500 drag coefficient site:fcanorthamerica.com")

2012 Fiat 500 Abarth: .367
2019 Fiat 500 Lounge/Pop: .362 and Abarth .352 (I can't see why the Pop would have a higher drag.)
2013 Abarth w/ 16" wheels: .352 and w/ 17": .365
500e is the "cleanest" at: .311
2017 Pop: .332, Lounge: .359, 500C Pop and 500c Lounge: .364 (This makes sense. Converts usually have more drag but why would the lounge be different?)

Canada releases showed a lower cD in some releases.

[Fiat500USA]

The Cd of a given vehicle will vary depending on which wind tunnel it is measured in. Variations of up to 5% have been documented according to my reference. Information is from FCA North America LLC and FCA Italy S.p.A.

About the Abarth Cabrio/ According to FCA:

"The roof mounted spoiler has been lengthened to improve airflow distribution over the car as well as accentuating the Abarth 500C's sporty look. This gives the soft top the same class-leading 0.33 drag coefficient as the hatchback."


A little trivia is the Fiat 500L had more than 3000 hours of testing on the body and underbody at the Fiat Group wind tunnel in Orbassano, Turin. The Fiat 500L drag coefficient is 0.30. Not bad for such a tall and bulky car.

[smark]

I'm confused about the real cD. I'm not sure if the media people just got the figures wrong. I like that you show the various model changes.

Some of the official press releases contradict one another. I have read .325 cD on the 500, but that was for the Euro models. (I searched "fiat 500 drag coefficient site:fcanorthamerica.com")

2012 Fiat 500 Abarth: .367
2019 Fiat 500 Lounge/Pop: .362 and Abarth .352 (I can't see why the Pop would have a higher drag.)
2013 Abarth w/ 16" wheels: .352 and w/ 17": .365
500e is the "cleanest" at: .311
2017 Pop: .332, Lounge: .359, 500C Pop and 500c Lounge: .364 (This makes sense. Converts usually have more drag but why would the lounge be different?)

Canada releases showed a lower cD in some releases.

This will explain it…..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automo...ag_coefficient

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This will explain it….. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automo...ag_coefficient

Yep, that explains stuff like going from 16 to 17" tires making a 4% difference.

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The Cd of a given vehicle will vary depending on which wind tunnel it is measured in. Variations of up to 5% have been documented according to my reference. Information is from FCA North America LLC and FCA Italy S.p.A.

About the Abarth Cabrio/ According to FCA:

"The roof mounted spoiler has been lengthened to improve airflow distribution over the car as well as accentuating the Abarth 500C's sporty look. This gives the soft top the same class-leading 0.33 drag coefficient as the hatchback."


A little trivia is the Fiat 500L had more than 3000 hours of testing on the body and underbody at the Fiat Group wind tunnel in Orbassano, Turin. The Fiat 500L drag coefficient is 0.30. Not bad for such a tall and bulky car.

An yet FCA uniformly says around .364 in their press releases (500c).

Yep, frontal area has little to do with cD. The Tesla S and X have the same cD, at .24... but I admit that the 500L's drag is impressive. Where frontal area matters is in total drag... X sqft divided by cD... so a bigger car usually has more drag. (Ironically, there is less total air resistance on the Tesla X than on the Lotus Eloise.)

Of course Tesla might exagerate a bit. While most semi trucks have .5 to .9, Tesla claims their new semi rates at .36, which seems possible when doing a CAD drag test. Tesla did that by removing mirrors (used cameras), tapering the cab, improved cab to trailer fitment, wheel shrouds, and a smoothed trailer. Ford has an even more impressive truck/trailer combo.

[Fiat500USA]

An yet FCA uniformly says around .364 in their press releases (500c).

Yep, frontal area has little to do with cD. The Tesla S and X have the same cD, at .24... but I admit that the 500L's drag is impressive. Where frontal area matters is in total drag... X sqft divided by cD... so a bigger car usually has more drag. (Ironically, there is less total air resistance on the Tesla X than on the Lotus Eloise.)

Of course Tesla might exagerate a bit. While most semi trucks have .5 to .9, Tesla claims their new semi rates at .36, which seems possible when doing a CAD drag test. Tesla did that by removing mirrors (used cameras), tapering the cab, improved cab to trailer fitment, wheel shrouds, and a smoothed trailer. Ford has an even more impressive truck/trailer combo.

I should have been clearer, that is for the Abarth 500 Cabrio in Europe. The main point of the quote was that the hatch and Cabrio share the same cD.

https://www.media.stellantis.com/uk-...yle-press-pack

The difficulty in finding info was one of the main inspirations of starting the Blog. I wanted it to be easy for folks to do research. I spend most of my time on the internet looking for info on cars, so I thought others are doing the same thing and having a central depository would help everyone. The neat thing is I've meet quite a few people from Fiat Italy and the USA that tell me they use my site to get the info they need quickly.

That's also the impetus of posting the drag coefficients on the blog. Now that info is in one spot to help folks doing research. That's why I tell folks to read Fiat500usa.com because many of the questions people have are answered there.

[Fiat500USA]

Iveco has a truck being sold now called the S-Way that has advanced aerodynamics. There is a company called Nikola Motors that converts Iveco S-Way trucks to electric. They say the drag coefficient of the Nikola Tre is 0.52. Not as impressive as the Tesla concept truck but the Iveco has been on sale since 2019.



They had a concept truck back in 2016 or so called the Z Truck with lots of far out ideas.

[smark]

Tesla EV semi truck has a lower aerodynamic coefficient, of a Bugatti Chiron super car.