21-22 MPG FUEL CONSUMPTION

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on January 14, 2010 at 8:55pm

Walter, take the car back to the dealer and request that they perform an MPG check for you. There's no charge for cars still in warranty.

Herb

Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on January 14, 2010 at 9:00pm

L. R., See my comment to Walter. Also, start pushing the car a lot harder. Your engine needs to be worked hard to loosen up and give you better mileage. Never mind the "soft-pedal" approach in "D". Go for the gusto in Manual mode. Works great in the get-away department, and believe it or not, you'll still get 37 mpg in town and have a lot more fun in the process.

Herb (Only a Suzuki Bandit 1255 is more fun).

Permalink Reply by Syna Sturdivant on January 14, 2010 at 11:43pm

I agree with you, Herb. At first I was gentle on my smartie and my mpg was mid-30's. After I got used to driving it, I started having fun and was hard on the gas pedal doing 70-80 mph, quick starts getting on to the freeway, and flooring it to downshift. Then my mpg started climbing. I do all hiway miles and I get around 43 mpg. If I keep it down to 65 mph, I can get 44-45 mpg. I did some city driving once and got 39 mpg. But I drive smartie hard and love it. And I might be imagining it, but I think that smartie has more pep now than in the beginning and I'm very happy with the mileage.

2008 Cabriolet 18000 miles Southern California

Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on January 15, 2010 at 4:53pm

Syna,

Then we're both suffering from an over-active imagination (hehe). My Smart is a 2008 Passion and has the same mileage as your car. I can also swear that it has more pep now than when I bought it. I agree with all your MPG figures, and have managed 47 MPG on one all-highway trip with sustained speeds of 75-80 MPH (A/C was OFF). The A/C knocks about 5 MPG off the fuel economy. I tried setting the temperature lever to 75 degrees F. because will cause the unit to cycle on and off with hardly any effect on the comfort level in the car. However, it greatly reduces the MPG hit from running the temp setting at 60 degrees. I leave it set to 75 degrees and I live in Tampa, where summers are brutally hot.

Herb

Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on January 15, 2010 at 5:08pm

TnPD;

Please see my reply to Syna. What temperature is your A/C set to? Originally, I never paid attention to the Temperature setting, and just used the black A/C switch to turn the A/C ON/OFF (it has a little red light when ON). One hot Tampa day, I'm stuck in SR54 traffic when I noticed it was definitely cold in the cabin. That's when I noticed that the A/C temperature control lever was set to 60F! (dealer personnel probably set it there).

I reset the temp lever to 75F (this lever controls a THERMOSTAT) and the A/C promptly turned itself OFF automatically. For the rest of the summer, the A/C would cycle ON/OFF in a manner that's normal for other automotive units. Sure, the cabin got a tad warmer, but was never uncomfortable since the A/C managed to keep the humidity low at the 75 deg. setting. Gas mileage improved by 3-4 MPG. Not bad!

Herb

Permalink Reply by Herb Bell on January 15, 2010 at 5:36pm

Chris;

Have an MPG check done on your car by the dealer (free if you're inside the warranty). You will sit in the SMART showroom reading a book or magazine while the car is taken to Mercedes for the test. At the same time, they will upgrade the transmission software to shift like a 2009 car if you own a 2008 or 2007 Smart. You will also get a new battery and get the transmission linkage checked and greased.

If Mercedes sees that your car is delivering poor fuel mileage, they will fix whatever is wrong and won't tell you that a repair was done (sly devils!). Mercedes/Smart just want to keep you satisfied. They succeeded with me!

Here's a biggie for you: There's an outfit in Georgia (DPTune) that offers to reprogram BOTH the engine and the transmission for $550 , guaranteeing to turn your little econo-box into a micro sports car. They have a HP/Torque graph that shows 71 HP delivered at the rear wheel! I believe the part about making the transmission shifts much quicker since I already know how well the car shifts in Manual using the paddle shifters! I'll drive up there one fine day and take them up on the re-flash offer, but for now, I've just finished tapping the performance level of the Smart in its present state of tune.

I will eventually install an after-market cold-air intake pipe and a decent exhaust system (when I can find one) because our poor little car has literally been strangulated by its OEM equipment. Eventually, A turbo might enter the picture as well. Garrett (USA) makes the turbo used on the 450 model (700cc), and probably also supplies the turbo used on the 84 hp Euro 451. My exchange with DPTune on this site about these matters is encouraging; it seems that 120 HP is possible even without the turbo! Well, why not? A one-liter Suzuki GXSR motorcycle makes 160 HP! Basically, the bike engine just breathes a lot better. I see a lot of fun on the horizon.

Herb

Permalink Reply by Ron Valkenburg on June 16, 2010 at 9:49pm

I live in NJ and just bought my smart 4 weeks ago. I travel mostly highway during my commute (65-70MPH) 130 miles a day. I have been using an iPhone app called Road Trip to keep track of my milage, as I did with my 2004 Prius I traded in for my smart.
Here are my tank milages so far:
37.36MPG (first tank)
38.80
39.93
39.68
41.72
43.36

Same thing I will tell you as I told people about the Prius. I had my 2004 Prius for 6 years and over the life of the car I got 51.2MPG average, most people do not get any thing close to that because you need to drive differently. Most people try and drive a Prius and now a smart like a Mustang, in fact I saw one this morning in the fast lane, I was doing about 68MPH and he flew by me probably doing 80MPH. The smart was not designed for that, it was designed to drive at a normal pace, not like your a pissed off teenager, behind the wheel of a Mustang. Hell, even the new Mustang gets 31MPG, so either your car is really messed up or your driving it into the ground.

So... 2 questions
What was your previous car?
What grade of fuel are you using? Needs to be atleast 91 octane.

Permalink Reply by Howard Smith on March 16, 2012 at 11:31pm

If your only getting that low mileage, check your oil and spark plugs, you may have a loose spark plug and your car might be driving on 2 cyclinders only !

Permalink Reply by Howard Smith on March 16, 2012 at 11:45pm

Ron Valkenburg said:

I live in NJ and just bought my smart 4 weeks ago. I travel mostly highway during my commute (65-70MPH) 130 miles a day. I have been using an iPhone app called Road Trip to keep track of my milage, as I did with my 2004 Prius I traded in for my smart.
Here are my tank milages so far:
37.36MPG (first tank)
38.80
39.93
39.68
41.72
43.36

Same thing I will tell you as I told people about the Prius. I had my 2004 Prius for 6 years and over the life of the car I got 51.2MPG average, most people do not get any thing close to that because you need to drive differently. Most people try and drive a Prius and now a smart like a Mustang, in fact I saw one this morning in the fast lane, I was doing about 68MPH and he flew by me probably doing 80MPH. The smart was not designed for that, it was designed to drive at a normal pace, not like your a pissed off teenager, behind the wheel of a Mustang. Hell, even the new Mustang gets 31MPG, so either your car is really messed up or your driving it into the ground.

So... 2 questions
What was your previous car?
What grade of fuel are you using? Needs to be at  least 91 octane.You need to break the little one in yet, as you can see the mileage is getting better ! I average between 52 and 55 miles a gal., i also put in new plugs ngk's stock # 4288 and changed the oil 0- 40 wt. n a fram oil filter, put in a k&n air filter ! the car drives much better and the gas mileage is much better too. I am averaging now around 58 to 60 miles per gal. at a speed 60 - 65 hr. The Denso plugs from manufactor are not the same as the ngk's  laser platinum plugs.

 

Permalink Reply by Smart42 on June 28, 2012 at 12:22pm

I have had my 2008 for 46 months now and currently have 18,800 miles on it.

I always had 32-36 mpg as I loved the quick starts, drive fast (>70 mph) and used regular gas.

This year I started taking my time and using premium gas. I drove from Minneapolis to Two Harbors MN through the senic route with the top down all the way. I drove between 55 and 65 mph and stopped in a lot of small towns. I had a head wind and a lot of hills along the river valleys. I filled up in Two Harbors and found I got 50 mpg! (Original plugs & air fliter) Thinking is was a fluke I continued to take my time and I found I was getting 41 mpg in town with the air conditioner running and driving 70 mph. My last drive cross-country achieved 51.2 mpg.

All I can say is that the 92 octane makes a big difference on mileage. So much so that it overcomes the price difference from regular.

 
Howard Smith said:

Ron Valkenburg said:

I live in NJ and just bought my smart 4 weeks ago. I travel mostly highway during my commute (65-70MPH) 130 miles a day. I have been using an iPhone app called Road Trip to keep track of my milage, as I did with my 2004 Prius I traded in for my smart.
Here are my tank milages so far:
37.36MPG (first tank)
38.80
39.93
39.68
41.72
43.36

Same thing I will tell you as I told people about the Prius. I had my 2004 Prius for 6 years and over the life of the car I got 51.2MPG average, most people do not get any thing close to that because you need to drive differently. Most people try and drive a Prius and now a smart like a Mustang, in fact I saw one this morning in the fast lane, I was doing about 68MPH and he flew by me probably doing 80MPH. The smart was not designed for that, it was designed to drive at a normal pace, not like your a pissed off teenager, behind the wheel of a Mustang. Hell, even the new Mustang gets 31MPG, so either your car is really messed up or your driving it into the ground.

So... 2 questions
What was your previous car?
What grade of fuel are you using? Needs to be at  least 91 octane.You need to break the little one in yet, as you can see the mileage is getting better ! I average between 52 and 55 miles a gal., i also put in new plugs ngk's stock # 4288 and changed the oil 0- 40 wt. n a fram oil filter, put in a k&n air filter ! the car drives much better and the gas mileage is much better too. I am averaging now around 58 to 60 miles per gal. at a speed 60 - 65 hr. The Denso plugs from manufactor are not the same as the ngk's  laser platinum plugs.

 

Permalink Reply by David B. Stark on July 16, 2012 at 9:37pm

I have read all the thoughts from everyone. They have pretty much covered it all. As an aside, I have a 2010 pure and I average 32 to 35 in the city. One last idea .... you are computing the gas mileage correctly aren't you??

Permalink Reply by CROCK 42 on July 17, 2012 at 9:19pm

Know the SIZE of the gas tank ! ! !

I go by the 10 Gal size ;-)

Jerry

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