[ALephart]

Looking through an old article:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/12/smart_shows_die.html

It would lead me to believe bringing the mhd smart car over could net a couple more MPG in the combined driving cycle. With all the *****ing about MPG going on you would think they would bring this technology over. I for one am surprised they are not.

Aaron Lephart

 

[lhoboy]

Looking through an old article:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/12/smart_shows_die.html

It would lead me to believe bringing the mhd smart car over could net a couple more MPG in the combined driving cycle. With all the *****ing about MPG going on you would think they would bring this technology over. I for one am surprised they are not.

Aaron Lephart

It may be an option by 2009. It seems the simplest of the alternatives to implement.

 

[Lewis]

It's really only a shut off on the engie during stop lights etc. For somebody like me that drives mostly in the country the effect would be very limited at best - but for city folk it probably would be quite worthwhile.

 

[DaveInTexas]

I think it would take an eternity(in car years) for the extra $500 option to pay for itself. Being that it is a belt drive starter/generator will add to the maintenance costs.

 

[PassionforPassionCT]

Personally I think the Smart car is the best way to go right now in terms of reliability and money spent. The technology of simple gas engines is proven enough so that its not a repair nightmare 10 years down the road, just like all these hybrids will be when the time comes for mantience and repair on their expensive batteries and extensive electrical systems.

 

[lhoboy]

I think it would take an eternity(in car years) for the extra $500 option to pay for itself. Being that it is a belt drive starter/generator will add to the maintenance costs.

The fuel savings in town was estimated at 13%. At 10,000 miles per year with31 mpg in-city consumption, comes to 322 gallon. If the MHD saves 13% (42 gallons), that equals $147 in fuel savings per year. The $500 will pay for itself in about 3-1/2 years. Drive more than 10k/yr in town, might be worth it. Drive less than 10k, probably won't be.

 

[Carnut]

I believe that they made a solid decision to KISS during their inaugural year in order to get the bugs out of their system and distribution. This is a monumental task involving dozens of dealers. Training personnel, and making a huge investment. So far it seems to be coming together nicely other than that short strike in France. Limiting choices, options, and drivetrain makes sense. The 2/24000 is a good thing for me as by the time I take delivery on mine (1369!!!) and go the two years I am sure there will be greater choices to choose from.

 

[2micro4u]

I agree I will get 2008 SMAR but once a MHD SMART or HYBRID SMART comes out I will trade mine in for it just because of the technology and savings. I plan to drive the smart everywhere so Im sure I will get my moneys worth eventually in time.

 

[sisyphus]

I'll be saving enough fuel with my 70hp smart as it is. Bring me a Brabus!

 

[jonnysan]

Simplest of all, Indeed, Ihoboy!

It may be an option by 2009. It seems the simplest of the alternatives to implement.

Once they get a handle on some of these Li ion nano-titanate batteries or one of the other various Li ion nano-component type batteries and they learn how to group them into a neat battery pack similar to what theTesla has (but with more reliability than their's has---6400 cell phone batteries connected together in some fashion to form the battery pack) what a repair project that would be to replace a couple of bad ones in the middle....

I really look forward to some simple version MHD or more desireable would be a PHEV. They will come soon enough....as the gas price goes up, the likelihood of this scenario gets closer to reality..... I really don't want to have to depend on gasoline any more than I have to....and the lesser the better. (5 gal a year for my lawn mower and weed eater would be acceptable)

 

[jonnysan]

Some crazy fuel economy numbers

The fuel savings in town was estimated at 13%. At 10,000 miles per year with31 mpg in-city consumption, comes to 322 gallon. If the MHD saves 13% (42 gallons), that equals $147 in fuel savings per year. The $500 will pay for itself in about 3-1/2 years. Drive more than 10k/yr in town, might be worth it. Drive less than 10k, probably won't be.

I saw some pretty inaccurate mileage numbers somewhere on here posted by a fellow from the UK. He compared the Smarts mileage as being slightly worse than a CNG Mustang of all things!! I didn't bother to post as the banter did not seem to even warrant attention. And he quoted the mileage of an '84 Passion (no Passions in '84 that I know of in terms of cars anyway.... ) That one article where the guy and his journalist sidekick had to Smart for a whole day driving down from San Fran to San Jose and back were the best mileage numbers that I've seen yet and more likely than not they were the most accurate ones, too. (56-highway and 43 city I think it was.)
That's the kind of mileage I envision the Smart having with the right kinds of driving techniques or *hypermiling* as it was called.

 

[DaveInTexas]

I saw some pretty inaccurate mileage numbers somewhere on here posted by a fellow from the UK. He compared the Smarts mileage as being slightly worse than a CNG Mustang of all things!! I didn't bother to post as the banter did not seem to even warrant attention. And he quoted the mileage of an '84 Passion (no Passions in '84 that I know of in terms of cars anyway.... ).

He was talking about a 84 hp turbo charged model 451 passion. Going on to the http://smartmaniacs.co.uk/forum/, there are a few other instances of the newer models getting lousy gas mileage, but there are also several that get prety decent gas mileage. Several said that they didn't start getting very good gas mileage until about 5000 miles down the road. Others mentioned changing out the air filters and sparkplugs to increase the horsepower and fuel economy.

I didn't reply for the same reasons, though.

 

[lhoboy]

The 2/24000 is a good thing for me as by the time I take delivery on mine (1369!!!) and go the two years I am sure there will be greater choices to choose from.

Resale value will plummet in year 3 if we're stuck with a 2 yr warranty.