[jwight]

jwight has reported a post.

Reason:

Please take a look and see what you think. Over the line?

Post: Won't buy smart again
Forum: smart Operation and Maintenance
Assigned Moderators: N/A

Posted by: Ptero
Original Content:

Yeah. I remember it became a political thing. All these people complaining that they were "forced" into using premium when they could have used unleaded instead. Some Obama agency even came down on the Penske group and made them say that the car would run okay on unleaded regular. When I saw that, I thought, "OMG, they're going to kill off the Smart Car!" And the idiots did.

People without engineering degrees have no place second-guessing real engineers. Automotive engineers don't work for the oil companies. There is no conspiricy.

The Mitsubishi engineers initially choose a high octane fuel strictly to meet the parameters of a mathematically derived theoretical stochiometric mixture. When this was shown to be empirically correct, they used their hard-won knowledge to create this amazing vehicle. With the 999cc IL3, these superb engineers dared to push the conventional design envelope beyond what was previously known to work. The 451 was a revolution.

"To reduce friction, the tension of the piston rings
was made 60 % lower than that of conventional piston
rings. To permit the low-tension piston rings to be
used, steps including minimization of the cylinder-head
bolts’ tightening force and deep location of the
bolt threads were taken to minimize bore deformation.
Reduction of the contact surface area of the piston skirts
was also implemented to cut friction. Each piston has a
30 % smaller contact surface area and is 25 % lighter
than a conventional piston with the same bore diameter."

"For combustion enhancement, cooling of the cylinder
head was optimized to permit a high compression
ratio."

NEVER IN THEIR WILDEST DREAMS DID THEY THINK ANYONE WOULD BE STUPID ENOUGH TO RUN 87 OCTANE IN THEIR WONDERFUL ENGINE!!!

All this advanced technology necessitated a meticulously calibrated and injected fuel/air mixture that would burn evenly and progressively from the initial spark ignition near Top Dead Center, smoothly and as coolly as possible, down to the very bottom of the piston stroke, gaining maximum efficiency out of every drop of premium gasoline and protecting these magnificently-engineered combustion chamber parts from debilitating shock and improperly focused heat. That's what high-octane premium does. Low octane regular blows up all at once, placing more stress on these vital parts and creating higher, out-of-spec, damaging temperatures at critical junctures such as the tiny valve seats. The new Americans are like Neanderthals. They know nothing. "Why can't we use regular?" they demand. They don't listen. They refuse to study. They killed the Smart Car. Now they embrace this worthless electric toy instead. God help us. Get an SUV, morons, and STFU!

Honor the Mitsubishi engineers by reading this. The truth is here.
https://web.archive.org/web/2007092...ut_us/technology/review/e/pdf/2004/16E_09.pdf

 

[sokoloff]

And here I was thinking about making this and a few others surrounding it a sticky to support using the correct fuel.

Len

 

[jwight]

Nothing wrong with the technical info but I have some doubts about the political content and the "STFU" slam.

 

[sokoloff]

Didn't bother me too much, but I'll go along with whatever you all feel is best.

Len

 

[jwight]

Waiting for others to chime in. Good to have a few more opinions in the mix.

 

[sokoloff]

Seems to be lots of good advise about using the recommended fuel. Maybe edit the couple of posts that are best and keep them as a sticky. Actually wonder though if those who insist on using regular are positive they know more than the engineers who designed the engine.

Len
2014 EV Coupe 15,500 miles
2014 EV Cabriolet 5,500 miles

 

[Miss Mercedes]

Sorry, I was out of town for the whole day.

Honestly, the whole "Obama made Penske
not require Premium" stuff is a strange conspiracy theory.
I can't find a drop of evidence that such ever happened. Regardless, smart was going through its federal testing long before Obama even took office, so there's a 99.9% chance that such never happened.

All we need is an unfounded rumour to begin circulating.

And there isn't a need to attack the audience, then get an extra jab in at ED owners.

So yeah, I vote editing out the attacks and the political bits and keeping the tech data.

As for using Regular...meh. I've driven 20k on the stuff and my smart continues to rack up the miles. I don't recommend using Regular because the manufacturer doesn't recommend it. The engineers aren't going to say "use Premium" for giggles.

However, I also don't think running Regular is inherently the death sentence it's made out to be. We still don't even know what are all the factors in engine failures.

 

[jimvw57]

tank it! the whole feeling behind the thead is not something that belongs here.

 

[jwight]

Agreed. It's in the tank - maybe we can pull out the info on the engine design (if we can verify the accuracy) and post it somewhere as a sticky.

 

[Miss Mercedes]

So far as I can tell, the document is accurate. I'd say it's worthy of a sticky as "Engine Technical Data" for whatever purpose that may serve to users.

 

[jwight]

Done.