What do you think about the aerodynamics of the Model S with regards to bugs? Now that spring is back and I see the bug smears on my car grill and windshield, I wonder, does the new car aerodynamics cause more or fewer bugs to hit than other similar cars? My wife's Highlander hits more rocks and bugs than any other vehicle I have ever seen.
I'm more worried that the silence of EVs will result in more bugs being snuck up on and killed. I'm sure some legislation will fix that.
To my surprise, the Roadster survived almost spotless both the May and September Lovebug seasons last year. If the Model S has aerodynamics anywhere near the the Roadster then it will be great. P.S. This is what a truck looks like:
I hadn't even thought about the fact that my Roadster remained pretty much bug-free - but of course it's the aerodynamics. Thanks for pointing it out! (And Nigel, that truck is just nasty.)
I wouldn't say my car stays entirely bug-free, but I'm sure we get orders of magnitude more bugs here. And no, with the top down you don't get bugs in your face. Heck, the Mythbusters showed that if you drive fast enough in a convertible you don't even get wet if it's raining...
I third the very few bugs on the Roadster report. And Elon bragged about the incredibly good aerodynamics of the S at the factory event so I'd expect similar results.
Blech, had to remind me. With the change in climate, the bugs on Skyline were thick late last May. Gack. Hard to pedal while trying to cough something up.
the Prius has a very low Cd, but those areas that are less 'slippery' still tend to get nailed to some degree. The flat of the front bumper and the windsheild still get some pretty good hits. That said, on similar drives it certainly fares better than my wife's Highlander Hybrid.
Showing a truck from Florida is cheating. I used to kill lovebugs with a golf club when I was a kid. The shaft of the golf club would look the same as that truck after a couple of minutes of swiping.
I must live in an area with many bugs as my Roadster and our Prius which is very aerodynamic end up with MANY bug splats across the front.
I don't get that many bugs on the Prius, but chips are another matter. All cars that don't have a square front get rock chips as far as I can tell.