Fuel Economy of the Smart Car

[SmartBob]

Originally Posted by prm1177

Latest mileage figures at 1100 miles, 45.5 @ 60% hwy, 20% suburban, & 20 % mountain.

KICK A$$!

[Yellowcarsrock]

What would we have to do to get a diesel in Canada and drive back to the USA in it? Pay import tax? sSend a year in jail? Give up our first both son? Is it possible?

[dcrooks]

I just had my first fill up and the baby was thirsty. :-)

I went 315 miles and put in 7.7 gallons for 40.9 miles to gallon. I had to use 93 octane at $3.29 a gallon for a total of $25.26. I am hoping to go all week on this tank of gas. I commute 70 miles round trip on 2 lane roads in the country with some fairly steep hills. As the gage got low it told me I had .9 gallons left in the tank. It was a little scary, but I knew there was gas station coming up.

[race911]

First fill today @ 34.5 MPG. Yes, I'm driving the car, not going for an economy run. 90% of the miles were freeway at a somewhat brisk pace.........

[Earlsworkshop]

I just returned from a drive to Las Vegas last night in my 08 Passion coupe. The route was LV south to Searchlight, to Laughlin, east to Kingman, AZ, to Wickenberg, south to Phoenix, and east to Apache Junction, AZ. (Traffic across Hoover Dam on a Friday afternoon is a drag! So I went the Searchlight way)
Interstate 40 highway cruising at 75 to 80 mph, mountain grades at 65 mph, stop & go traffic in Wickenberg, Sun City, and on the 101 Loop (all construction backups and delays).
I had filled the tank on Tropicana, drove 349.5 miles and didn't fill up until this morning, and used 8.293 gallons. That's a trip average of 42.14mpg.
My best mileage has been a bit over 47mpg driving from Flagstaff AZ to Happy Jack, AZ and back again. Of course that trip was at night driving about 45 mph to avoid elk on the roads. (You don't want to do battle with a 800 lb elk in any car, let alone in a Smartie!)
I do love my little Smart car, but I wish that I could get the 700cc turbo-charged diesel with the 6 speed transmission in the 451. I would start producing my own bio-diesel fuel in my workshop.
I spent some time in the UK four years a ago and worked with a guy who routinely drove from London to Tauton with his 05 Smart. His gas (or petrol as the Brits say) powered coupe averaged 75 - 80 miles per gallon. This gent also had a neighbor who drove the diesel powered '05 Smart coupe and claimed that he once averaged 105 mpg. (US gal or UK gal? I don't know).
But, at that time, I had a '05 Jaguar S-Type rental car. It was a full sized four door powered by a 2.6 liter turbo-charged diesel V-6. I averaged 32 mpg in the city and got 52 mpg on a long trip on the motorways. FACT! Now, the fuel pumps there dispense in liters, so my calculations were based on 3.785 liters per US gallon, not the UK gallon.
I truly believe that the overly strict US EPA emissions requirements are the reason for the reduction in fuel economy with the US Smart as compared to the European Smarts (as well as other cars.) It just doesn't make sense to tune a car to get a 20% or 30% reduction in CO2, Hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxides with a result of a 100% increase in fuel consumption.
That is counter productive.

[honit2]

First fill-up today. 44 mpg! I think I can get used to this!!!!

[forestacademy]

WOW!! Digging up the past.

Interesting Historical read

[Kermit]

WoW! Talk about an old crusty dead thread being revived!

Last 3 tanks.....47.6 MPG - 45.0 MPG - 44.1 MPG

[SmartDigger]

37.8 over 6 fillups here

[padi176715]

42.6 over the first 4100 miles. Let the fun begin