The 400 club

[Tenn_Brad]

I got 401.9 miles on my last tank. 8.22 gal., 48.89 mpg. I buy my gas at Sams club (93 octane), used the same pump and topped off the tank each time. Had .4 gal. left in tank.

Last weekend I took a trip to the Smokey mtns. About 80% highway and a lot of big hills. That took about 340 of the miles. The rest was when I returned to Chattanooga and back to city driving. I'm sure the highway driving helped the mileage, but the mtns. hurt.

My previous tanks were as follows; 45.4mpg, 40.2mpg, 39.4mpg and 39.2mpg.


Has anyone else reached 400 on a tank or close to it?

Brad

[nevis]

Wow Brad, Your mileage is great! Our 2008 smart car is driven mostly in 7 mile city hops and we are getting low to mid 30's range 32-34. Still good because our 2004 Mercury van was getting 12.5 to 13.5 and our 1998 Dodge Neon 22-23.

[RussBarnes]

Good going Brad! I thought I was going to be the first, but since I'm not at least it was another Vol...

[Razorback]

I have read that topping-off the tank is NOT a good idea.

[vanslam]

Neat deal, I am having a heck of a time getting to the 350 club. I have to stop stomping the pedal.

[Tenn_Brad]

Originally Posted by Razorback

I have read that topping-off the tank is NOT a good idea.

When I say I topped off, I'm not talking about filling it all the way to the top. What I do is go up to the 1/2 gal or gal or to the next full dollar.

On last tank with the pump set at slow it stopped a $29.35 and I topped it off at $30.00.

Brad

[JThw8]

Originally Posted by Tenn_Brad

Has anyone else reached 400 on a tank or close to it?

Brad

Hit 371 on a tank with about .6 gallons remaining. No doubt it would have crossed 400, but I was just about to enter the highway and had to get gas then.

Glad to see you made it, I knew there was 400 in this thing. I break 350 easily every fill up (and I fill up 2x a week so I do it alot)

[WNCsmart4two]

Had a curious thought the other day. I wanted to bring it up somewhere here to see if any of you techies could answer the question. A gas station near where I work sells TurboBlue(Racing gas 100 octane). What would happen if you filled the smart with it??? Did not look at the price actually, just glanced at it and thought, humph, check in to it. Does anyone more learned than I know??

[scdaf]

Originally Posted by WNCsmart4two

Had a curious thought the other day. I wanted to bring it up somewhere here to see if any of you techies could answer the question. A gas station near where I work sells TurboBlue(Racing gas 100 octane). What would happen if you filled the smart with it??? Did not look at the price actually, just glanced at it and thought, humph, check in to it. Does anyone more learned than I know??

You'd have spent way more to fill your smart than anyone else in America!
Seriously, higher octane than an engine NEEDS is a complete waste of $$$. Higher octane gas does not contain more energy, it is actually more difficult to ignite.
Several members have reported using LOWER octane gas with no change in milage...

[unicycle]

Congrats on the 400 ** that takes a special set of circs:
1. Great mileage (driving conditions, speed, etc)
2. Filling up at the right moments so that you don't run out of gas.
3. Misc (not having to brake too often, etc)

I managed 366 on the last tank with about .6 gal left, but I could not take the risk of going the add'l 34 miles because there was no station there. It was getting scary as it was, driving (again) with the 1-gallon light on.

As it is, I'm averaging about 43 mpg for all of my trips (since I bought the car two weeks ago), with higher rates lately as I learn to baby the gas pedal. It helps that I drive 55-60 mph and that most of my driving is hwy. I think I can keep it in the 45-48 mpg range.