First test drive: Smart Fortwo diesel cabriolet - saw 67 mpg US (100% city)

[steddie]

G'day all,
I have a Smart Forfour since 1.5 years now, it has a 1.5 litre petrol, what you call ''Gas'' engine and have done about 17000km in that time.its a 2004 model with now 93000km on it.
Its a very good and cheap to run car and do average 19.5kml or about 56 mpg UK or nearly 46mpg US without doing anything like eoc
I used to have diesel cars but they are here priced of the road with road tax, for a car about 10cents per mile (and that has to be payed in advance) and also the yearly rego is about 140 dollars more than a petrol car, so i gave up on diesel after 5 of them as i am now retired and dont do so much driving anymore.
Here petrol is about 1.77 per litre with roadtax included and diesel close to 1 dollar +roadtax and extra yearly rego money.
Greetings,
Eddie.

[Snax]

I love the economy that diesels provide, but I'd rather see less of them on the road overall. They are simply nasty, no matter how 'clean' they portend to be.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by steddie

I have a Smart Forfour since 1.5 years now, it has a 1.5 litre petrol,

Is that the one made from the Mitsubishi Colt platform?

I used to have diesel cars but they are here priced of the road with road tax,

Interesting. Did not know that about N.Z.

[steddie]

G'day MetroMPG.
Yes its the one build on the Mitsubishi platform, but also the engine ,gearbox and running gear is mitsubishi, i think its a good combo as the engines are close to bulletproof.
The 6 speed AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) is a pleasure to have i found and i like to be in manual and my wife in automatic mode is 2 birds with 1 stone lol.
As the speed limit is low here in NZ is partly why i get good milage,
The max, speed here is 100kmh or 62 mph on the motorways and in many places down to 80kmh or 50mph, but in towns its 50kmh or 31mph and the fines are high getting caught over the speed limit.
I worked out that this car is cheaper to run than any of the diesel cars ive had cos of that blasted roadtax.
Greetings,
Eddie.

[ThomasP]

Recalling our 1980 VW Diesel and how it was a good car and fairly comfortable. My absolute best freeway mileage was 62+ mpg with a full load, family and all the items require for us to take our two children with us for the weekend. Suburban MPG was about 52 ish! As I recall it's CD was just slightly better than a brick and weighed in somewhere in the area of 2400# (vs 1600+ #) at the curb. By the time we loaded up, probably would tip the scales at 2800#. As the our VW was not turbo charged and didn't have advancements with electronics and all, I would have expected better advertised MPG's for this vehicle. I would be interested in what the Smart MPG is on the highway if you can provide any info.

[steddie]

G'day ThomasP,
I cant tell you much about the Smart Diesel but my Smart Forfour Petrol/gas is very scheap to run (look at my previous posts).
Greetings,
Eddie.

[deejaaa]

Originally Posted by ThomasP

Recalling our 1980 VW Diesel and how it was a good car and fairly comfortable. My absolute best freeway mileage was 62+ mpg with a full load, family and all the items require for us to take our two children with us for the weekend.
Suburban MPG was about 52 ish! .........

wow! those are astronomical numbers! wonder if it would have been better aero, maybe in the 100's?