shembri doesn't know crap. he's a bureaucrat. why would i be listening to his advise on fuel selection? it's in his best interest to downplay the importance of premium fuel because it removes a potential roadblock in the buyer's purchase decision. "see how it says 91 octane on the fuel door there? yeah, just ignore that. trust me"
i'll take an engineer's word over shembri every time.
Rawlus. I have met with Mr Shembri on two occasions and I can assure you he is no bureaucrat. In fact he and I and the service manager discussed a problem we were having with our stop light/ shifter lock up, and he seemed to be as much of a motor head as the rest of us.
As for your harsh personal comments on this board against someone who seldom posts here, but is aware of of it's content, I will go further than "J", and say a retraction may be in order. Why not? A2Jack.
Just to check if anyone knows, there's not a problem alternating between premium and regular is there? I tend to refill at about 2 bars left, so should be a bit of both swilling about, but do they mix or will the engine sensors have trouble with the mixing of fuels in the tank?
2 bars? Jeez thats like a third of the tanks.. You could easily go 50+ more miles on that! I wouldnt worry about refiling if your in civilization till it counts down in the tenths.
Rawlus. I have met with Mr Shembri on two occasions and I can assure you he is no bureaucrat. In fact he and I and the service manager discussed a problem we were having with our stop light/ shifter lock up, and he seemed to be as much of a motor head as the rest of us.
As for your harsh personal comments on this board against someone who seldom posts here, but is aware of of it's content, I will go further than "J", and say a retraction may be in order. Why not? A2Jack.
i'll retract my remarks when i hear from him why he is directly contradicting both the user's manual, factory advice and the fuel octane warning sticker on the fuel lid door in his newspaper interviews.
what are his motives in doing that other than confusing the public and creating these types of situations/discussions.
am i not to believe what the user's manual says anymore? go with what dave says instead? what does dave have to say about oil filters? what does dave have to say about the 10k service? do i still need to do it?
if he is quoted out of context then he should have followed up on that to assure that his comments were not misinterpreted.
those that know him and those he has personally taken an interest in to help, more power to you. however, it is clear that his benevolent nature has not washed off on the majority of the dealership's he's signed up to do business with.
my dealership experience was terrible. the salesmen completely clueless. i was notified of my car arriving exactly 30 days after i took delivery of it. for this i hold shembri also responsible, it is his dealership network and it is his responsibility to ensure the best possible customer service, the best delivery of information to both his dealers and their customers, etc.. they took what was a novel and unique and modern concept - ordering and configuring a car online, and perverted it by injecting the same old lazy business model of having to deal with actual car dealerships and salesmen.
i hope he is reading these forums and i hope he is actively weeding out the dead wood in the organization, and i hope that he will think twice before he speaks the next time he's on a press junket.
i retract that he is a bureaucrat in the event anyone finds that a derogatory term.
i retract that he doesn't know crap.
in clarification i'll state that he is not an automotive engineer and participated in no way in the development of the smart to my knowledge.
i am still, however, dismissive of his authority on what gasoline octane rating the smart requires, most especially when it contradicts factory specs.
if anyone else came up to me and told me information that contradicted factory specs, i would have to seriously question the source's credentials in that field as well as the legitimacy and truthfulness of their advice offered without substantiating data.
if this person really has these close ties to the manufacturer, then an amended user's manual and or new labeling program for the fuel doors would be expected at the very least.
since fuel economy has to be one of the objective goals of this vehicle from an engineering point of view, a rational person would have to think that much thought would be given to whether or not premium fuel is really absolutely necessary given it's premium cost over 87 octane. and such a rational person would conclude that, when the requirement for premium fuel is so prominently noted with such specificity and lack of nuance, that there must be a decisive reason behind said recommendation.
which makes a public statement by the president of the US distributor of the brand in the national press directly contradicting said recommendation most vexing.
i retract that he is a bureaucrat in the event anyone finds that a derogatory term.
i retract that he doesn't know crap.
in clarification i'll state that he is not an automotive engineer and participated in no way in the development of the smart to my knowledge.
i am still, however, dismissive of his authority on what gasoline octane rating the smart requires, most especially when it contradicts factory specs.
if anyone else came up to me and told me information that contradicted factory specs, i would have to seriously question the source's credentials in that field as well as the legitimacy and truthfulness of their advice offered without substantiating data.
if this person really has these close ties to the manufacturer, then an amended user's manual and or new labeling program for the fuel doors would be expected at the very least.
since fuel economy has to be one of the objective goals of this vehicle from an engineering point of view, a rational person would have to think that much thought would be given to whether or not premium fuel is really absolutely necessary given it's premium cost over 87 octane. and such a rational person would conclude that, when the requirement for premium fuel is so prominently noted with such specificity and lack of nuance, that there must be a decisive reason behind said recommendation.
which makes a public statement by the president of the US distributor of the brand in the national press directly contradicting said recommendation most vexing.
Agreed, every thing you say in this post is my thinking as well.
The strange thing here is there has not been a word about this on the Insiders site.
I too will pay the few bucks difference and run the good stuff until we hear from the factory or Mitsu. Regards. A2Jack
I have to agree with rawlus® on that, but I may try a couple of tanks just to see how it goes. I tried a tank early on and it got horrible results. but the car was rather new and I was still learning it so that may have played a factor.
I have posted this before, and I will now post it again (based on many years as an amateur race car mechanic and someone who has broken a few engines in my time): Detonation (Knock) = Death by broken/melted pistons. Using the crap regular 87 octane gasoline in an engine with 10-1 compression (before the dreaded carbon buildup in the combustion chambers and its increase of CR) is taking an unacceptable chance with an expensive engine. At sea level on a hot day under load, you better hope your knock sensors are well within spec and able to retard the timing far enough, or you WILL damage your engine, in spite of what all the "expert" non-engineers are telling you! Me, I'll use the recommended stuff.
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