[smartzuuk]

Original Source

By Keith Hebert, Fuel Efficiency Analyst

It was four years ago today, that my quest to beat 100 mpg in my diesel smart car was realized. It was on a 393 km segment between Birch Hills and Yorkton, SK that I achieved 113 mpg imperial. The total for the day (over 400 miles) was 103 mpg imperial. And this, from a car with a conventional internal combustion engine that you could get in Canada, but not the United States. (This is a topic for another story, later.) I went on to achieve better than 100 mpg on 5 tanks during the trip, all without any gimmicks or modifications to the vehicle. At the time, I didn't even have the benefit of any fuel consumption instrumentation, a Scangauge would have been pretty handy!

In 2006, still on the quest to beat 100 mpg US, and test how the smart performed on biodiesel, I headed back out to Saskatchewan. Through various trials and tests, I was able to yield 126 mpg imperial / 105 mpg US on a B20 blend of biodiesel. You can read about that here and here.



Then in 2007, another diesel smart car owner proved that 100 mpg could be beat on a full tank of greater than 600 miles. The hypermiling owner from Quebec achieved 2.238 L/100 km, which is 126 mpg imperial or 105 mpg US through clever use of a hand operated throttle mechanism, which allowed a very precise acceleration of the vehicle. The owner also utilized a ScanGauge fuel economy computer to get precise readouts of engine load and fuel consumption.



Besides the smart car, various Toyota Prius and Honda Insight (2000-2006 model) owners have shown capability of achieving better than 100 mpg. Many of those hybrid vehicle owners reside at cleanmpg.com. There is also ecomodder.com, a site dedicated to exploring vehicle modifications which yield better mileage.

100 mpg from a vehicle is quite possible, but it does take some driver willingness and a bit of an eco conscience. The reality is this - your right foot and your ego has the most to do with how much fuel your chosen vehicle burns. Even a Toyota Prius or Honda Civic hybrid is no guarantee of fuel savings if you don't put a bit of effort into it. Or as one hypermiler put it: 'fanatic' is what the lazy call the dedicated.

Read more in my previous article: Hypermiling for better fuel economy.