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Nextourer

Cross-Canada Trip in the 451

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Hi,After traveling over the mountain passes in southern Oregon into California, I am confident in the ability of the 451 to cope with mountain passes. It was 36 degrees celcius and the car cruised through. I just put the car into manual and geared down to 4th and had no problems. It certainly is a conversation piece. Lots of questions which was fun at first and then a little mit of a pain! Now at the Oregon coast.

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Does anybody bring along a filled up gas can on these long road trips?

I went from Victoria to St Johns, then Red Bay Labrador, then along the north coast of the St Lawrence, and didn't carry a jerry can in the cdi. Only issue was when I tempted fate and skipped filling a half tank when there WAS a station. Nova Scotia was a close run out because of this, but no fault of the car or fuel tank. There isn't anywhere with 400 kms between stations in the 10 provinces other than perhaps northern BC and maybe Baie Comeau to Labrador...... make a point of filling half tanks up when you can, and you will no issue

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We're in Hinton AB already. Spent $64 on fuel so far and $154 on lodgings. LOL This motel, the Big Horn Motel in hinton is wonderful. Quiet, clean, the bed is brand new, the room clean and not too smelly for being a dogs and smoker's room, the wifi just as good as home, and right off the highway. We only paid $97 all in for the night, ti's got a nice flat panel tv, nuker and fridge, parking outside our door for Iris. Edmonton: avoid rainbow valley campground. For $25/night it's a rip off. Bathrooms are barely adequate and insufficient for the patrons, water lukewarm and keeps shutting off in the mouldy shower, fire wood is oversized bundles for too much $$ and the wifi is busted! Location is okay if you don't mind running through construction, not having it listed on GPS or hurting your smart car on rough paving that isn't well marked in said construction zones (miles of it). Oh, and nestled between 3 freeways makes it extremely noisy for all it's pretty trees and squirrels.Iris is getting all kinds of attention and handling the drive and being stuffed to the roof. I had an old cargo net from my hatchback rabbit. I bought it at Princess auto years ago. It stretches from the privacy cover's lower bar (minus the rest of it) to the hooks in the ceiling for "suit hangers." Those hooks aren't great for the job but if you load carefully this will keep stuff out of your lap as you drive. It also lets us load the "behind the seat" area lightly enough to move items back and forth when switching drivers. Things are awfully stuffed in back there, heh. Poor iris can't keep clean. We wash her, she gets dusty. We go to bed, wake up in rain and drive in rain and mud all day. Time to find another wand wash in town I guess.Ok, bye from Hinton, see you next time I have time and wif!

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My wife and I recently went on a so called vacation. We took our smart, the two of us and out dog and our stuff weighed 1080kg on the commercial scale with a full tank of diesel.

We left July 5th, and returned July 13th. We went to the Shushwap, Drumheller, Edmonton, and back to Terrace following This Route. With a few changes here and there due to construction.

Here are the numbers from Spritmonitor:

3,920km

4.54 l/100kms

183 litres

$265 in fuel

470 kg CO2 emitted

~40.5 hours of driving on the highway :blink:

It was a good trip, but super busy. And the last stretch home was a bit iffy as the rear tires were getting bald on the inside edges (pressure too high) and the passenger side was actually showing the steel belts when we got home. We had a spare winter front along with us though.

Edit: Fixed map

Edited by NJV

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We put in that Ride-on tire protection system goop in the tires before leaving and it really helps me feel secure. In addition, purely for psychology, there's a tire plug kit under the passenger rug.So far we've gone 1100km (circa) and it's cost about $105 in fuel. We spend more on candy and chips and pop. I took a pic of Iris in front of a glacier climbing bus at the Athabasca Glacier Ice Fields and later I'll park that up on the thread for "things that dwarf our cars". Probably when I"m home.

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Big Bus

Been there - done that - couldn't afford the T-shirt :D

Really worth the trip up there.

Cheers,

Cameron

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Well I'm back home!!! ~5,000kms and 6 days.We were on schedule up til Winnipeg and ahead of schedule afterwards (stayed in Swift Current, then Calgary then Revelstoke). The major issue was the strong crosswinds in AB on Hwy 1 btwn Medicine Hat and the turn off to Drumheller. (Opening the driver's door at a highway stop was difficult because of the wind). The Coquihalla wasn't too bad and I maintained 90km/h in 4th along the Connector (15°C at the top, 24°C in the valley so it wasn't too hot).I will get the fuel tally done and more details to the trip later. I am pooped and I gotta get the bugs off and give her a good wash and wax!

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Glad to hear you had a good trip. I waited for a call from you on the 29th but I realize your schedule did not allow for extended stops. Looking forward to more of your trip report.

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Thanks Tom. I got to Thunder Bay pretty late (I think around 7pm). Ate at Boston Pizza by Memorial and then went to the hotel and slept. (didn't realise the hotel was so far west of T-Bay city). Then off to Winnipeg the next morning. I did manage to see the Terry Fox lookout on the way in and the Kakabeka Falls on the way out. Met some bikers from Michigan there who were interested in the smart. One of them had a 1.8 litre engine in the bike!!Oh and before I forget, thanks to all the other smarties for waving back!! Nearly everyone I passed waved. Those that didn't were either driving company cars or zipped by too fast.Edit: oh and is there any easy way to get rid of the bugs in the radiator and A/C...radiator?? I've gotten a good chunk of them out by spraying between the grates of the grille and lower air dam but there's still quite a number of bugs still lodged in there (esp. the lower one).

Edited by Nextourer

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Hey, I'm back too, and likewise have to give the car a good going-over. Poor thing is looking quite bedraggled. She needs vacuuming and scrubbing and polishing, but I'm not sure when! I gotta drive her today to pick up some things and maybe I can do it after that. It's embarassing driving a dirty car! The trip was a blast, exhausting, but worthwhile. Everywhere we set up a tent, it rained. If we booked a hotel, it shone (except in tofino where it just kept raining). We didn't really get dry again till we crossed the mountains back, but that's the coast for you. We lost our camera on the ferry and found it again on the return ferry, jammed into a corner of the passenger seat, under the towel pinned over it. Yeah, LOL, that's funny! I did get some shots of the smart meet Deb organized for me in Victoria with my cell phone. I'm still working on putting together a page of trip pics on my website but first I have to get things at home back to normal. 2 weeks without the regular caretaker (me) really affects things! We've got the yard trimmed and the cages cleaned anyway. My garden had a huge surprise for me. I left it choking in weeds, returned to a riot of wildflowers swaying a rainbow into the yard! I was really astounded.The smart car handled the trip like a trooper, giving us all the power we needed on the hills, leaving those bully SUVs in our dust on the turns, and leaping gleefully over the terrible road into Tofino. Lemme tell you, you better be on your game on that road because it's not just the narrow steep winding roads, it's also got slumping and sliding cracks and deformities all over. Iris also impressed us by stopping in time to avoid a deer at night (3 actually) and a great horned owl hanging out on the highway (he brushed our car with his wingtips as he flew away). Iris was so nimble and quick that she stopped fast, hard, and smoothly, still allowing Dan to steer nimbly around things. That was the road down from Radium Hot Springs, across the border, and into Bonners Ferry. That road was blood splattered in the most evil way. All along the way we kept seeing the carnage, great pools of blood stains, tire tracks through them, and occasionally still some carcasses along the road not cleared up yet.

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Welcome Home Yolanda! You must have passed right by my house on your way to Tofino. Did you get tooted at by a red and black smartie in Port Alberni??? :D I drove across Canada in 2003 in my camperized van so recognize some of the places like Wawa and Thunder Bay, etc. I'll do it again some day in my smart!

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Welcome Home Yolanda! You must have passed right by my house on your way to Tofino. Did you get tooted at by a red and black smartie in Port Alberni??? :D I drove across Canada in 2003 in my camperized van so recognize some of the places like Wawa and Thunder Bay, etc. I'll do it again some day in my smart!

Well darn, sorry we didn't stop in but we didn't know! It wasn't that late when we were in alberni although we drove over to the grocery store and stuff so went off the main road briefly. I wasn't sure if we'd find diesel in tofino so wanted to be fully juiced before we launched ourselves into the wilderness.I lost track of all the smarts on the island. They're ideal for that terrain and there's sure a lot of them!

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Here are the trip details:Total Distance: 4,683.4kmTotal Cost: $385.21Total Amt. of Fuel: 268.021 litresBest FE: 4.84L/100km (Medicine Hat to Calgary via Drumheller)Worst FE: 6.69L/100km (Grenfell to Swift Current).I think that worst tank might be due to bad gas. Grenfell's gas station was selling 91 for the price of 87 and the signs on the pump weren't even right. One side said regular, the other side said premium.Thanks to every smartie who waved at me. There was a black/black 450 in Sault Ste Marie, a silver/silver 450 cab in Kelowna, a stream green 450 somewhere on Hwy 1 and a few others. There was also a yellow/silver 451 with SK plates at the SK info centre near the AB border.Overall, it was a good trip. Had some weird weather near Marathon (by which I mean the cloud pattern was really odd and it was overcast). Some light rain in Winnipeg in the morning but otherwise, good sunny weather. I visited the Terry Fox Lookout, Kakabeka Falls, Mack the Moose, the Wawa Goose, the 85ft T-Rex at Drumheller, D Dutchman Dairies for ice-cream and the Royal Tyrell Museum.I got a couple of stares on the highway (an esp. long one from a couple in a Jetta TDI as they passed me ... both were looking my way and somehow their car stayed straight and in its lane) and had a group of Michigan bikers ask about the vehicle at Kakabeka Falls.I didn't have to use the spare washer fluid. The engine kept cool (but heated up once it was parked) throughout the trip. The Rockies weren't a problem. The Okanagan Connector and the Coq posed the bigger problems and I had to be flat out in 4th doing 90km/h up both long grades. The transmission is geared quite short. Even in the steepest grades (8%), the car managed to hold its speed and even slowly reduce it in 5th gear so I never really could coast down a mountain.The front end of the car is pitted :( from all the stones and other crap the semis threw up. It's not too noticeable until you go up close. There's still tons of bugs stuck in the radiator and of course bits of it are damaged. Does anyone know how to effectively remove the remaining bugs? I only can spray through the grille.

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I use Turtle Wax Bug n' Tar remover, for the radiator you could try the lemon scented degreaser that we use on cooler coils. It liquifies "junk" into a foam and it drips off, then you wash it. Can't remember what it's called off hand... but it's wickedly good stuff. Did I mention lemon scented? lol. Green can.

Edit: It's CAL-SPRAY EVAP-FRESH EVAPORATOR COIL CLEANER & DISINFECTANT. So if you have a really gummed up radiator this works great. Don't spray on a hot radiator though, it is flammable.

Posted Image

Edited by Snapdragon

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Edit: It's CAL-SPRAY EVAP-FRESH EVAPORATOR COIL CLEANER & DISINFECTANT. So if you have a really gummed up radiator this works great. Don't spray on a hot radiator though, it is flammable.

Hey... that should work well on the intercooler fins too!Where do you buy that stuff, Snap'?:sun:

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I use Turtle Wax Bug n' Tar remover, for the radiator you could try the lemon scented degreaser that we use on cooler coils. It liquifies "junk" into a foam and it drips off, then you wash it. Can't remember what it's called off hand... but it's wickedly good stuff. Did I mention lemon scented? lol. Green can.

Edit: It's CAL-SPRAY EVAP-FRESH EVAPORATOR COIL CLEANER & DISINFECTANT. So if you have a really gummed up radiator this works great. Don't spray on a hot radiator though, it is flammable.

Posted Image

hmm interesting. Can I spray it through the grille or if not, is it ok if some get onto the grille?

Welcome Home! Glad you had a safe, and enjoyable, trip.

Thanks!

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bah.. I just realised I was rude enough not to provide you guys with pics after all the suggestions and help you guys gave to me.What's a good site to post an album of pictures? or should I just pick a select few and use imageshack to post them here? I'm leaning towards the latter since I tend not to leave albums online.

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Edit: It's CAL-SPRAY EVAP-FRESH EVAPORATOR COIL CLEANER & DISINFECTANT. So if you have a really gummed up radiator this works great. Don't spray on a hot radiator though, it is flammable.

Just read about an interesting alternative that I'm going to try on my intercooler heat exchanger because I need some for my corner shower soon anyway: Scrubbing Bubbles Foaming Cleanser! :lol: B :sun:

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