I would be interested, but last time the bidding went to $15 or 16k and reserve was still not met. At that price this car should be sold!

Actually just realized it does not have AC, not sure if it should even go for that much, not too many states where people can live without AC, I think they are selling in the wrong state.

 

Very low mileage Canadian car (explains the lack of A/C?) and would be fun to own if you live someplace cool. Not sure about that 100 mpg claim, even with the diesel.

 

100MPG heavily hipermiled. Not normal driving.

 

That car would cost $7K up here. Is the certification in the USA really worth $10 K to someone?

 

Dunno if it is or not. I purchased mine indirectly from a Canadian citizen, so it wasn't neutered to US standards, plus it still met all state and local specs, so no problem getting it titled.

But as far as price, every Canadian CDI Cabrio I've seen on Ebay has brought high $$$, as the diesel engine is not available in the US. The $16k figures for a low-mileage cabrio cdi seem to be fairly normal.

I personally prefer the 450 to the 451, and purchased a 450 last year. It really *IS* possible to get very high mpg's, but not sure I've been able to squeeze much more than 70-some-odd mpg from mine unless I had one heck of a tail-wind.

Maybe we could add sails to increase fuel economy?? lmao!

 

We measure MPG in US Gallons, while many Canadians, in spite of being metric now, measure it in old Imperial Gallons, which are almost five quarts, instead of four to the US Gallon. You can't blame them; they're trying hard to sell you the car.
So, in US terms, the diesel smart gets about 70 MPG.
Of course, the rest of the world uses Liters per 100 Km.

 

Traveling in top gear at around 40 to 50 MPH will net FE in the low 2 LHK or 100 US MPG range in a cdi.

 

I drive past this car every day - it's on the lot of a Mercedes repair shop/used car dealer on 7th Street & Missouri in Phoenix, AZ. It's been there for about three weeks or so. From the street, it looks to be in great shape.

There's another 450 in the neighborhood as well - it's silver with a silver tridion cell.

 

Is there a way to order JUST a diesel engine/trans after market to replace my existing gas engine. I am at 65K in just two years so when this engine dies (who knows how long they will last) I would like to replace it with the diesel.

 

Their are almost no common parts between the 450 and 451.

 

Not the question

There ARE diesel 451's

 

When all is said an done, it may be cheeper to buy a used 450. There is quite a bit more than the engine swap, not to mention you would still be stuck with the same tranny.

 

I have done the conversion from gas to diesel. You will need the engine and transmission ($3,000) plus the diesel wiring harness ($950)for the year of your car. The fuel pump will need to be replaced and matched ECU, SAM unit with the cluster unit ($250). You will need the fuel cooler ($350) and cut out the underlaying parts. The hardest part is replaceing the wiring harness.

Leroy

 

Where did you source your parts?

 

I picked up 5 complete engine and transmissions from Canadian crash test vehicles. Then any other parts that I needed I ordered from Smarttune in the UK. My car is a 2002 so it was a lot harder then a 2003 and above.

Leroy

 

5 huh? You got any of those engines and transmissions left? I may have found a roller.

 

I have two complete engine and drivetrains left. The computers are for a 2003. I also have the fuel tank and pump. PM me for more information and how to convert it over from gas to diesel.

Leroy

 

Hi Leroy,

If you're thinking about selling either of your CDI Diesel engines please let me know. I've owned a CDI Smart for 9 years and at some point the engine will need to be rebuilt or replaced.

Thanks in advance,

Jack

 

I am doing a comprehensive Registry for all Canadian market 450 cdi diesels, and it should be completed in a few months. This Registry will contain location information as of 2012, associated to VINs.

Right now I am only about 40% complete and 29 of these diesel powered Canadian market 450s are known to be in the USA, the vast majority with US titles. I suspect that the US total will be close to 70 cars when I am done, but it certainly will be over 50 cars.

 

So what are the legalities of a Canadian SELLING a cdi into the US.

 

It's not technically legal, but I've NEVER heard of anyone getting prosecuted -- that's why there are 70-80 of them in the country... where there is a will there is a way.:wink:

 

Let's talk about it more on the Internet - the government never monitors these sites...

 

They monitor this stuff alright, but this kind of talk doesn't trip any word triggers... so it just sits in a database somewhere rather than being brought to anyone's attention. Even if it were brought to someone's attention, they'd almost certainly discard it on the thinking that they've got better things to be doing.

They're just collecting so much data they can't process it all.

 

All anyone (including Uncle Sam) needs to do is get access to the Federally-run National Vehicle Database and all of this information is easily obtainable. That's what CarFax and others (like the one I am using) access. So monitoring this or any other enthusiast site is not going to be high on their priority list, if they are trying to enforce importation rules.

 

no doubt they got bigger fish to fry...:wink:

 

This year we took two cars for a test drive while in California. A volt and a leaf. Both dealers would have been happy to take our CDI on trade. Interesting.

 

they were 1) probably excited at the prospect of selling an EV and 2) may not have fully appreciated the implication of trying to get the diesel smart registered (especially in CA).

 

Smart Smart - eBay (item 251038381380 end time Apr-15-12 10:30:25 PDT)

And yet another?

 

there is definitely a premium for having it already in the states -- that same car in Canadia would be MUCH cheaper!:wink:

 

Very interesting, I got that one from the National Vehicle Database a few days ago and it was shown as being in Peterborough Ontario, last registered there as of 2011....so a lot has happened in the past few months if it's been flipped from there to NY and now to OH.

 

So, I have revised the US total downward because 5 of the cars that had been listed as being in the USA were only there for a temporary exhibition in New York City, and were later returned to Québec for sale. The total stands at 26 cars, with another 3800 to check up on. I will report the final US total when I have it, but I think now that it's well under 50.

 

The final tally is in, and as of this year there are only 36 diesel smarts of Canadian origin in the USA. I have further info on each of the cars if anyone is interested.

 

Can you break that down by the State they are in? The town I live in has 3 that came from Canada.

 

keep that under your hat!