Optimizing Speed and Performance in Your Jeep_® Brand SUV

Unless you’re a physicist, it can be hard to wrap your head around how a vehicle’s design changes everything about how it drives. Measuring speed, weight and air resistance feels like something NASA deals with, not your daily commuter. But the truth is that no matter your driving style, you’re experiencing aerodynamics in motion—because your vehicle has been designed with these concepts in mind.

Let’s take a walk through how shape and movement help optimize your speed and efficiency in a Jeep_® Brand vehicle.

Let’s look at some of the important ways in which aerodynamic design alters your vehicle’s performance.

Already you can imagine how this science affects your vehicle’s performance. Now, let’s talk about the two separate aerodynamic forces that affect a vehicle the most: Drag and Lift.

Designers use an equation known as the drag coefficient to determine a vehicle's aerodynamic properties. It’s a really long, complicated equation, and this ain’t AP Physics, but what you need to know is:

Think about throwing a Frisbee—if you give it a little down-swoop, it can take off higher and faster. Lift is similar to drag, in that both lift and drag are forces that push against your vehicle. But instead of coming at your vehicle, it comes under your vehicle and lifts it up. Which, when you’re driving, you want to avoid (unless you have a flying car, but between us, the Jeep_® Brand is still a few years away from that).

The power-to-weight ratio is an equation used to determine vehicle and engine performance. It’s your engine’s power output divided by the vehicle’s weight (mass). The easiest way to improve your power-to-weight ratio is through weight reduction—the less your vehicle weighs, the more its power output shines through.

There are some specific ways in which automotive engineers use vehicle design to maximize vehicle performance. Here are a few of the most common—and important—elements.

While plenty of vehicles are built with aerodynamic performance in mind, there's nothing wrong with a little boost. Here are a few ways you can jack up your airflow.

Now that you know the science behind how vehicle design improves efficiency and performance, there’s only one thing left—the drive! Whether you’re optimized for lift and drag or utilizing a performance-enhancing suspension upgrade, you now know how the shape of your vehicle puts power behind the excitement of driving it. Have fun, watch out for wind resistance and don’t be a drag!

Which 4x4 vehicle is right for you? Peruse our options below and start the adventure!

From cold air intake systems to spoilers, the Mopar_® eStore has the Jeep_® Brand Performance Parts needed to customize your off-roading experience.