The Toyota Land Cruiser is one of the most versatile cars out there, as it can take on your daily commute, an adventure into the outback or even a trip to the dump. The iconic SUV’s design has been refined over the years to make it slicker and more fuel efficient, but it’s still a slab-sided SUV that’s not particularly aerodynamic. In fact, the Land Cruiser is even less aerodynamic than a loaf of bread.
The difference between a loaf of bread and a Land Cruiser may not have crossed your mind before, after all one is designed to go anywhere and the other is made to be delicious. That hasn’t stopped YouTube channel Premier Aerodynamics from comparing the aerodynamic performance of the two boxy beings in a new video that’s been brought to our attention by the folks over at Motor1.
Premier Aerodynamics has so far compared the performance of a Mazda Miata against a luxury yacht and a Land Cruiser against a brick - with the Land Cruiser coming out on top in that particular duel.
For its latest update, it pitted a J40 Land Cruiser against a loaf of bread perfect for making sandwiches. The pair are modeled using computational fluid dynamics, which uses computer models to predict how various liquids and gasses would flow over a surface. The process can be used to calculate the drag of an object, as Motor1 explains:
The rounded profile of the top of the bread loaf helps airflow stay attached along its length, minimizing the wake at the rear. The flatter bottom of the bread isn’t quite so good, so you get some air detaching, but the video host notes that you could improve this by rounding off the sharp corner of this particular loaf. Obviously (?) the bread has a large frontal area, though, so there’s a lot of air hitting it, which is why it’s somewhat draggy.
The big problem with the Land Cruiser is, well, it’s a tall, square truck with big wheels and lots of exposed mechanical components underneath. Its very nature is what makes it so compromised. Of course, the 40-series Land Cruiser was never meant to be some sort of streamliner: It was meant to be a tough off-roader, and that it is. It doesn’t matter that its aero is... worse than a loaf of bread.
With all that taken into account, Premier Aerodynamics calculated the drag coefficient as well as the lift each would generate at 45 miles per hour - provided you could accelerate a loaf of bread to those lofty velocities.
The bread’s coefficient was 0.57, which is about the same as a 1967 Ford Mustang, according to Premier Aerodynamics. The Land Cruiser, meanwhile, was over that at 0.66 and also produced more lift than the bread coming in at 52 pounds versus 0.06 pounds that the bread produces.
I’m not sure what you want to do with this newfound information about the aerodynamic performance of bread, but it feels like it’ll be a fun fact to whip out at your next cocktail party. People famously love car facts at cocktail parties.