I'm sure someone once asked about what displays were found to be most useful on the ScanGauge... here's mine.
It's taken a while to bed the 'Gauge in on the smart; I can't prove it, but it seems as if the car has been programmed to change ECU maps after 1500 km (1000 miles) and then again after 3000 km (2000 miles). There definitely seems to have been sudden changes in performance, smoothness and fuel economy. I'm seeing very accurate results on the 'Gauge and fuel economy has bettered the advertised 4.9 lhk (48 mpg US) average. See bottom right hand readout. The top right readout is Tank Used Litres - which is very close (within 0.02 litres) to what it takes to refill the tank.
XGauge codes that are most useful to me have been combinations of:
First character:
0 = Average Fuel Economy
1 = Fuel Used
Second character:
0 = Current Trip
4 = Tank Trip
I have emailed ScanGauge asking if they can supply any known smart specific XGauge codes. No reply. Has anyone managed to get any of the codes off the ScanGauge web site to give meaningful readouts?
It's taken a while to bed the 'Gauge in on the smart; I can't prove it, but it seems as if the car has been programmed to change ECU maps after 1500 km (1000 miles) and then again after 3000 km (2000 miles). There definitely seems to have been sudden changes in performance, smoothness and fuel economy. I'm seeing very accurate results on the 'Gauge and fuel economy has bettered the advertised 4.9 lhk (48 mpg US) average. See bottom right hand readout. The top right readout is Tank Used Litres - which is very close (within 0.02 litres) to what it takes to refill the tank.
XGauge codes that are most useful to me have been combinations of:
First character:
0 = Average Fuel Economy
1 = Fuel Used
Second character:
0 = Current Trip
4 = Tank Trip
I have emailed ScanGauge asking if they can supply any known smart specific XGauge codes. No reply. Has anyone managed to get any of the codes off the ScanGauge web site to give meaningful readouts?
Replies to This Discussion
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just curious what sort of driving you do to get 4.7LHK. Mostly open roads bit of city? Are you still using V Power or have you dropped back to premium unleaded like you were discussing in another post, at least I think that was you. :)
P.S. my red turbo cabrio arrives on Monday, getting very excited, it's my first new car.
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I've dropped back to Shell Premium 95 after using V-Power and haven't noticed any difference. Prices are bouncing around this week!
To get the lower consumption is mainly a case of avoiding idling situations, avoid short trips and use manual shift instead of auto. The pulse turbo will mumble along in 5th doing 60 kph. It may sound rough at low revs until the engine runs in. Softouch auto will drop it to 4th. There was a noticeable change in engine performance and fuel consumption after 3,000 km... dunno if that was by coincidence or design. It seems to have a heavy fuel consumption when warming from cold and the exhaust smells rich... so the worst thing possible is to start the engine and let it stand idling to warm up before driving off. That is mentioned in the Euro / Aussie owners handbook... Warming up wastes fuel. Driving is mixed between 60 kph city, 80 kph inter-town and 100 kph highway. Heaviest fuel consumption is from standing start. Tip in the owners handbook is to change up to second after 2 car lengths from start.... granny start to get sub 5 lhk; or the performance way is 0 to 60 in first and leave everything behind at the lights... then consumption starts to average 6.5 lhk. The critter will stick in first gear from a standing start and redline at 60 kph before you know it... not recommended if there is a speed camera down the road! It also feels stupid flicking the upshift paddle to get from first to fifth still doing 60 kph. I don't use the softouch auto very often. Softouch is best on twisty mountain roads and not in the city... that was a big surprise!
Highway cruising into a 25 kph headwind uses slightly more fuel than with the same wind following. So I try and do trips into, then return with the wind to average it out. Easy up here where the highway is North - South and the winds are almost always from the South.
Generally: first 1,000 km was close to 7 lhk; 1,000 to 1,500 km dropped to 6.5 lhk; 1,500 to 3,000 km dropped to 5.5 lhk; over 3,000 km stabilising at around 5 or less lhk when driven for economy. The smart seems to need running in a bit. First oil change is at around 15,000 km. No oil is being consumed. The service indicator now shows 11,500 km to go before oil change is needed.
On the ScanGauge web site, they have XGauge codes for a few makes that are for oil condition. I was hoping someone had the code for the smart... guess I'll have to try a few codes and see if any work.
Have fun on Monday when you drive it for the first time. Check the tyre pressures as soon as possible. The big driving tip is to get into the habit of pressing the foot brake when stationary and changing from N to R or + (it won't change until the brake is pressed if left for a few seconds). Can be embarrasing! Also: when stopped at the lights for a few minutes, put it into N to save clutch wear... then shift and press the brake pedal before hitting the go pedal. The transmission is like nothing else and takes a little getting used to. Trickiest bit is slowing down for right angle urban turns - the tranny will often shift down when in manual as the car slows or brakes are applied; but predicting it takes practice. Read all the driving tips in the owners manual. Let the car teach you how it likes to be driven.
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Permalink Reply by mr bad example on -
i used to drive that way for giggles in my old justy, first, third and 5th by 60kph. i just wish the smart had a possible standard shift gate, in the US we have to go through each gear :(
on my smart, i sit in N at lights and will pop it to D without having to touch the brake pedal (i dislike that "creep" feature, something has to be wearing out while the smart is yearning to go forward)
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it is possible to jump a gear on both the upshift and the downshift!
just tap the paddle twice and it will, the only time it wont is if your road speed it too high/low eg going from 5th to 3rd when doing 150km/h or going from 1st to 3rd doing 5km/h
if you dont have paddles you can use the tiptronic mode...
but then again i dont know how the us models move between gears or if you can even manually change like we can...
im glad we dont have the creep feature, i hate it! im driving an A class Mercedes at the moment and the creep is driving me nuts! the hill hold function is much much better
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That North American gear lever is odd compared to the Aussie one.
On ours all we have is N and R on the right side. USA gets P R N D to play with... and that could be deadly if we swapped cars! You would pull the lever back for D... on our stick that puts you in reverse! And I scared myself last week... I have driven enough US autos to have subliminal gear shift memories... I was stopped at the lights and a girl pulled up behind... she was fussing with something in the front seat and generally was making me nervous. Lights changed, I pulled the shift lever back and touched the accelerator... OOPS Reverse!. (Moved about 100mm; no contact.) I think I scared her into realising that getting too close to a car stopped at the lights is a bad idea.
The shift will skip gears on upshifts. What is disturbing is not knowing what gear it is in without looking at the instrument cluster. Approaching a corner and not being sure if it has decided to downshift or if I need to downshift it can give a sort of vague wonderment feeling. Coming out of a roundabout at 40 to 50 kph needs a deliberate shift into 3rd to accelerate briskly back up to 80 kph. Sometimes the smart will have downshifted; other times it hasn't. It will try to accelerate from 50 kph in 5th.... won't even flash the downshift arrow... but it's not very quick! I have learnt to downshift in advance of many intersections - something that was never a concern with a standard gate manual where I knew what gear it would be in and how to shift to the exact gear needed.
I agree: a standard gate shift with no auto program would be a nice option.
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Permalink Reply by mr bad example on
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what i hate, is in "manual", it'll flash a down arrow, then i may decide 2 seconds later to do the downshift, and the smart will initiate a downshift at the same time, so i'll be going in 5th, choose to go to 4th, and 3rd will be engaged through a sort of "double shift" (driver and computer shifting at almost the same time)
now, i just let the damned computer do the downshifts while in manual. less work for me!
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Permalink Reply by smarttask on -
Ian. Sorry to write this but i think if i said to my wife we would be better of going into town this afternoon or can we waite a bit untill the wind changes direction before a trip i would be in the divorce court pretty quick.
On a more serious note I can't and never will agree with changing oil at 15000 or 2000 kms , i know that oil has changed over the years but i am a firm beliver in changing oil and filter at 5000. I know the Smart as a car, i got my first in 1999, the first Smart in Santa Margherita. two 600cc's one 700cc and my new Smart arrived 4 weeks ago, a pluse turbo. Its a great little town car and OK for short trips, with the first 3 i have never had any problems at all and managed to sell them at a good price with around 18'000kms on the clock back to Smart Genova.
Will let you know how i get on with the new one, nearly 1'000 kms already, 4000 till the oil change and17'000 till i get a New One. Regards Roger
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Thanks for your insights and driving tips, sorry i kind of threw your thread of track a bit.
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No worries. Enjoy your car (collect it today?)
I'm not having much luck with the XGauge codes. The "Horsepower" seems to do something, but is not very useful. It shows what may be second by second engine output; but whether it is accurate or not is impossible to determine.
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Car arrived at the dealer today, be ready to pick on friday, possibly Thursday if I'm lucky...
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Hi Edward,
At this stage it is: "don't rush it; do it right."
... And all bets are the tyres will be 36 psi all round instead of 26 front and 32 rear. I have yet to take delivery of a new car anywhere where someone checked the tyre pressures. They make a big difference in handling and comfort on the smart.
In a parallel universe (to the financial one I live in), just been watching Top Gear Australia do a "review" of a $400,000 Mercedes and they criticised the sequential herky jerky auto transmission that really needs the driver to learn to play with the paddles. Gotta laugh. That show is steadfastly irrelevant.
Cheers, Ian
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Hi Ian,
Is the X in front of the word Gauge in your disscusion replacing the word Scan. I'm confused, or does it mean something else ? And what kind of codes are you talking about ? Are they the kind of code you get when something is broken ?
Thanks
Not so smart
