Are gopping grilles necessary?

[AW111]

One of the modern design trends that leaves me cold is the enormous front grille.

Here is a high powered 90's GT :

|https://thumbsnap.com/5Mdj3yy9[/url]
See also Mercedes v8's from the same era.

So is there any engineering reason for the huge grilles on modern cars, or is it just an unimaginative way to fill in the gap between the bumper and the impact-freindly raised bonnet?

[otolith]

They didn't make *that* much power, though, by modern standards.

I suspect that more of an issue is the need to feed air to intercoolers now that everything is forced induction. Plenty of grille area on highly turbocharged rally reps from the era you're talking about and before.

[HardtopManual]

It's part of the design trend towards aggressive, rather than beautiful, cars. It's what Joe Public wants, apparently.

[G600]

Just for show, jalopnik photoshopped cars to show how much of the grille actually let's air through.
https://jalopnik.com/cars-without-fake-grilles-181...

[stevieturbo]

Where is the enormous front grill in that pic ?

It looks small.

[AW111]

G600 said:

Just for show, jalopnik photoshopped cars to show how much of the grille actually let's air through.
https://jalopnik.com/cars-without-fake-grilles-181...

Very interesting, thanks.

[E-bmw]

stevieturbo said:

Where is the enormous front grill in that pic ?

It looks small.

That was exactly his point it wasn't but they now are.

[PositronicRay]

AW111 said:

G600 said:

Just for show, jalopnik photoshopped cars to show how much of the grille actually let's air through.
https://jalopnik.com/cars-without-fake-grilles-181...

Very interesting, thanks.

Tis interesting, I would have thought crap grills wouldn't help aerodynamics either. Form over function?

[stevieturbo]

E-bmw said:

That was exactly his point it wasn't but they now are.

They are ? Any particular car ?

It's not like we're all driving Rolls Royce's with huge grills.

[RDMcG]

New safety rules for pedestrians dictate a much blunter front end with more space over the engine that is crushable I believe. Not the case for mid or rear engined cars which therefore retain sleeker fronts.

[227bhp]

The first two which sprang to mind were 'New Mercedes' (any) and Ford Sierra.







I agree, it's down to having more rads to cool, more power & efficiency (for engine zize), apart from the obvious one you've now got oil cooler, intercooler, air-con, power steering, fuel coolers as standard on many cars now.

All cars have undertrays which they never used to have, so the air is drawn back out of the engine bay under the car to help the aerodynamics.

[mike74]

With all the current nonsense in the news about so called sexual harassment I actually read the thread title as ''groping girlies''