Finally! I broke past the 40 mpg barrier...

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Permalink Reply by kerry on December 8, 2008 at 9:50am

Thanks Richard, great information and loved the video!

Kerry

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Permalink Reply by Carlos on February 2, 2009 at 3:18pm

Important change:

In Europe smart changed the auto mode for modelyear 2009. In auto mode it will shift into 5th around 65 km/h, with little throttle. Previously it was about 80 km/h. On the dutch smart forum, there are few experiences.

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Permalink Reply by mr bad example on February 2, 2009 at 10:19pm

i woke up late yesterday for our smart meet, i crawled out of bed at 10am, i showered and shaved and then drove 40 miles, mostly at 80MPH and got there at 11am, while clocking 40.8MPG. 40mpg is nothing but easy when the temperature is over 30F.

when i started my trip, the GPS gave me an arrival time of 11:20am, that's at posted speed limits, i pulled into the lot at 11:01am, i passed everything on the road, my top speed was 83mph, the joys of having a SG2.

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Permalink Reply by Charlie on September 23, 2009 at 3:20pm

So what am I doing wrong? I've had my 451 almost a year and my mpg averages 28. Most of my driving is highway and I normaly shift manually. The tranny has been updated and I do drive with a bit of a lead foot (70-80 mph on the highway) but should my gas milage be so low?

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Permalink Reply by Richard D. Masters on October 29, 2009 at 10:42pm

My lifetime average is 51+ mpg over 30,000 miles. Most was highway driving using the constant throttle technique. That means I don't move the accelerator pedal once I reach cruising speed. I usually drive entire tanks barefoot for a few extra mpg thanks to the increased sensitivity. I always take advantage of downhills by coasting or pulsing. I usually let the computer choose the shift point in auto but on downshifts I always back off to avoid accelerating uphill. My speed is dependent on wind direction. You can go faster without mpg penalty with a tailwind but with a headwind you have to slow down. The lighter the vehicle, the more important the drag consideration - so Smart Cars are super-sensitive. I always crest grades slower than my average speed. Steep downgrades are done in 5th gear because by default FI is off. All my 60+ tanks were made at 60 to 65 with a tailwind. Usually 50 to 44 mph seems to be the sweet spot; anything more is wasteful. You can't have it both ways because the force of drag at speed is the cube of velocity so there is a definite point where mpg falls abruptly for each car, depending on that car's Coefficient of drag . I may have been driving too slowly for the first 20,000 miles. I will follow a truck at one second separation in headwinds. I use a headwind and crosswind indicator mounted outside on the cowl. I do not use a tach, Scangauge or vacuum gauge.

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