Problems so far..

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by Jan in West U

4. still don't get the mileage everyone raves about. In fact, no one in our Houston smart car Club got anything over 43 mpg all highway.

Don't believe everything you read on the Interwebz. According to some people, they use hypermiling techniques and check their air tire pressure hourly and shift into "N" going downhill and turn the car off at red lights, and get 58 MPG or something.

However, the sticker on the window says 31 city, 40 highway. So the 43 MPG you quote is already better than estimated.

I get 32-36 all city, 36-42 mixed, and 42-46 all highway. :shrug: That's good enough for me. I haven't checked the air in the tires once, I don't draft behind trucks or roll downhill in "N" or do anything else. But I also don't stomp on the accelerator like I'm driving a Super Sprint car.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by uscgrad81

You were talking in here about it being a bargain because you only have "one a year." Are you referring to an oil change? It's recommended that the oil be changed just once a year in this car? I have only had mine two weeks and I am taking it in next week to get the oil changed - I always run synthetic blend and I want to make sure that it has that in it - which I doubt it does.

The maintenance schedule is 10,000 miles or one year. Even though it's an itty-bitty thing that looks like it should be powering a lawnmower, supposedly it's a high-performance engine. I'm sure if it were supposed to go in every three months or 3,000 miles like a standard car, Smart would be happy to tell us that and get us in every three months. :shrug: I've got 5k on mine, I just looked at the oil and it's still at the 3/4 mark and doesn't look too bad.

[forestacademy]

What usc failed to mention in this post is she purchased it used at 6500 miles and doesn't know its history. in that case not a bad move.

[dsmoore54]

I have been lucky until last week, Our Smartie has 16k in almost a year. My wife wife was driving to work on the highway and it suddenly shut down. The displays turned blank. She was able to pull over safely to the breakdown land. It wasnt for some time that she was able to put the shift into Park and it then started and has been fine since. The dealer was very concerned and will check with their technicians before we bring it in. I had the transmission software upgrade which may nor may not be of some importance. On another issue, my dealer in Louisville, KY has been fantastic so far. I had scheduled an oil change and after waiting two and a half hours my car was not touched so I left, but they told me to come back the following week and the oil change was on them.

[John_H]

Originally Posted by dsmoore54

On another issue, my dealer in Louisville, KY has been fantastic so far. I had scheduled an oil change and after waiting two and a half hours my car was not touched so I left, but they told me to come back the following week and the oil change was on them.

Not touching your car for a scheduled oil change in 2 1/2 hours is fantastic?

Money talks, I guess, but yikes!

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by dsmoore54

I have been lucky until last week, Our Smartie has 16k in almost a year. My wife wife was driving to work on the highway and it suddenly shut down. The displays turned blank. She was able to pull over safely to the breakdown land. It wasnt for some time that she was able to put the shift into Park and it then started and has been fine since.

I believe I have read of this happening in a few threads here. While the poor "Smart flambe" was much more serious, that's only happened to one car, but THIS is something Smart should be looking into because it's happened to more than one person. Having your car shut down while at highway speeds is very unsafe!

[forestacademy]

SOme have tied it to bumping thir Key.

[rfernatt]

Originally Posted by dsmoore54

I have been lucky until last week, Our Smartie has 16k in almost a year. My wife wife was driving to work on the highway and it suddenly shut down. The displays turned blank. She was able to pull over safely to the breakdown land.

Originally Posted by forestacademy

SOme have tied it to bumping thir Key.

Ditto what forest said. My wife bumped the key while I was driving on the freeway in my car and it shut down like you flipped a light switch. However, I didn't have any problems putting the car back into Park and restarting without a hiccup. It only happened once and it was definitely key related.