do you know..? (car's longevity)

[jediknight36]

Originally Posted by andy'smart

WOW! thanks guys!! i only posted like 3 hours ago! haha.

i agree that having new oils will help. i treat that car like a baby too! thanks quagmire for the FYI. those benz ones seem to have some lastability. i think that the exclusion of the turbo can only help too. the simpler, the better. I didnt know that the geo was also a one letre. who made that for GM? was it also Mitsubishi?

what about launching from a stop with other cars? the car needs to be pushed to get going along with other cars from a stop light, but i take it slow. i feel like other people get annoyed with me for doing so. what do you guys do? I almost had someone bump me from behind when the car shifted from 1st to 2nd once! it has to be said that he was quite annoyed and sped on the shoulder around me. in that instance i was also starting on an up hill incline tho.

I baby my toyota from starts too just for the mpgs. If teh 6cly and SUVs want to spend 10 gal/ min to get around you let them. Let them be mad. Let them hit your car. Its THEIR money! Just sit back and enjoy the ride.

Its not worth having a stroke over!

[forestacademy]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

FYI... The 100,000 Km Club - Club smart Car

They're talking 100,000 kilometers which is only 62,137.1 miles

But since we here in the states will have a lot more hwy miles on then than the EU folks we should get different results.

THe lack of Cruse indicated the folks over the pond think this is only a city car. I need to drive 30 miles to the nearest "city" and 90 miles to the next major city.

[jediknight36]

Originally Posted by forestacademy

They're talking 100,000 kilometers which is only 62,137.1 miles

And why are we not metric again? Are we confused by the number 10?

[smartHHO]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

FYI... The 100,000 Km Club - Club smart Car

100,000km is only 63k miles roughly. So, that being said, 100k club is nothing.

But, there was a Brit that posted her 10 year old smart was still going strong. Not sure how many miles but I am sure probably more then 100,000km.

[andy'smart]

one thing i have noticed it that the damn thing wont shift when its on any kind of incline and i need to quickly grab the shifter and manually shift before i redline. it also downgears when im going up a slight hill and will not for its life shift back into 5th in auto drive!!

[andy'smart]

and so i'm guessing that most of us agree that constant high speeds are not bad for the engine? if so, whats the highest speed or ideal speed IYO?

[Quagmire]

Maybe... by the time our engines wear out, we will be able to just slap in an electric replacement motor and plug in the car over night.

[andy'smart]

..Giggity

[Woody14619]

If you look at what cars survive and which don't a lot of it has more to do with the care people take of the car than the make or model. There are everything from old VW bugs with tiny engines up to old huge Mercury wagons that have 300k+ on them. I'm betting if properly maintained these will go 100K without a problem, and because of their current engineering could make it as high as 250 to 300K without major issues.

[gbryers]

It is roughly as accurate to say that small = short lived as it is to say that small = unsafe. I had a Nissan Sentra (first year it was out) with a 1.5 litre engine, and that little sucker carried me and my wife and daughter 200,000 before I finally traded in on a newer car. At the time I got rid of it, the engine was still strong, but the seats were worn out. I also had a '71 Pinto that lasted 104,000, and I was not in a position to replace the main seal (the only problem) when I had to get rid of it.
So you cannot convince me that, given a properly engineered and maintained car/engine, that size counts for anything.