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daveayotte

SMART DIESEL EFFICIENCY

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:) I've had my incredible 2006 Smart Diesel for 16 months. I love it, specially at fillup time.I fell in love with these little hummers on trips to Europe where they proliferate.Is great even in our Toronto snowy winters with it's original all-season radials.I've kept track of my fuel usage with an Excel spread sheet. It calculates L/100Km, mpg Cdn and mpg USA.It does this for each fillup and also calculates running averages and overall totals and overall averages.I had to convert it to a PDF to post it here as an attachment because this blog will not accept Excel XLSX format files.It's easy to use and update if you have basic spreadsheet ability.If you wish to use my Excel XLSX file to keep track of your own fuel usage, be it gas or diesel, let me know and I'll email you the Excel file.Keep on SMARTing and smiling ! :) Dave

SMART_CAR_DIESEL_EFFICIENCY.pdf

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You have ths posted twice, but I'll ask again here... do you use a fuel economy computer to improve your driving habits?

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Are you sure it's a Diesel?? Because I think the economy is not that good for a diesel. I never go over 4l/km. Best so far was 3,4l/km.

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Are you sure it's a Diesel?? Because I think the economy is not that good for a diesel. I never go over 4l/km. Best so far was 3,4l/km.

The car is barely broken in yet on that chart with just 15k on it, as well, if thats pure city driving, he's doing fine.

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You may find this of interest. I certainly did.The attached chart shows my diesel consumption rate using data from my Excel file described earlier.It's for my 2006 450 diesel cdi purchased new June '08.16 month period from June'08 to present.Chart shows average L/100km for each month period.It shows a significant improvement in fuel efficiency over the first 3,500KM over the summer (first 3 months).Then the Toronto winter set in which bumped it back up for the colder winter weather.The warm spell we had in January showed a temporary improvement.Then the warm weather finally returned in May, improving it .A very modest improvement continued to the present, although I had expected it to be more significant.I'm hoping for continued improvement as the smart becomes more broken-in and as I have recently started changing my driving habits.Wish me luck.Dave

post-6061-1225994232_thumb.jpg

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And don't forget to check spritmonitor.de for a comparison against many other smarts, including most of the fuel economy nuts in Canada....... I've updated almost all of my last fillups in the cabrio which sold 2 days ago. Managed some really great numbers through spring and summer, and ended up with a 3.8 lifetime... was likely going to head downwards, but there's always another diesel out there!! ;)

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100 mpg Cdn = 2.82481 L/100km ( = 83.3 mpg US )

Is this possible?

I'm averaging 4.9 = 58mpg Cdn, ( 80% city, 20% hwy ).

The best I've had was hwy 70mpg Cdn = 4.04 L/100km.

But I do have a bit of a 'lead' foot.

What's the best AVERAGE L/100km on record? City? Hwy? Combined?

Anyone know?

Dave

Smart Diesel 450 with 15,000km using diesel gold, summer Conti's.

( ps - I think it was the last new 450 bought from MerBen in Markham on Kennedy )

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SpiritMonitor says the best average is 2.74, but that looks really dodgy. The next best is 3,20 l/100.

http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/32-...08&power_s=

My average is a little bit worse than yours at 5.07. I drive 90+% short city trips and have a heavy foot like you so that doesn't help. My best was 3.86 but I also see a few 6+ tanks each winter. My average is coming down since I've been hitting the highway a bit more regularly, but I still don't drive for economy (usually about 120km/hr)...I drive with the traffic. I'd like to see it resemble the Transport Canada numbers a little more, but I'm still fairly satisfied with my results overall. I don't think your results are too far off the normal range on CsC, and nothing to worry about.

garth

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SpiritMonitor says the best average is 2.74, but that looks really dodgy. The next best is 3,20 l/100.

http://www.spritmonitor.de/en/overview/32-...08&power_s=

My average is a little bit worse than yours at 5.07. I drive 90+% short city trips and have a heavy foot like you so that doesn't help. My best was 3.86 but I also see a few 6+ tanks each winter. My average is coming down since I've been hitting the highway a bit more regularly, but I still don't drive for economy (usually about 120km/hr)...I drive with the traffic. I'd like to see it resemble the Transport Canada numbers a little more, but I'm still fairly satisfied with my results overall. I don't think your results are too far off the normal range on CsC, and nothing to worry about.

garth

Thanks ALL OF YOU for your input.

Garth, actually you may be doing slightly better than me.

It makes a difference whether one is speaking of a lifetime average or a recent average.

My 4.9 average is only for over the last 2 months or so. I'm at 15,000km now, barely broken in.

My overall average since new purchase 16 months ago is 5.12 and that includes the early breakin period and our snowy and long '07/'08 winter in Markham, ON.

Our driving habits seem very similar.

I'm a new cmc member and have been reading a lot of comments on economy here thanks to all the members.

As of a couple of days ago, after my last fillup, I've been trying to adopt some new driving habits as an experiment.

I'm happy with my fuel usage, but am curious what certain changes will do.

So I'm keeping my rpm's lower by shifting sooner, staying under 2,500 as much as possible, trying not to compete with traffic so much, and easing off sooner when I see a stop coming up.

It's not easy for me, and I've only regressed a few times. GGRRRRRRRR

When I fill up next, I'll share my experience and the results here in this stream.

I love this community also as much as my Smart.

Dave

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I'd say 3.2 is a very realistic number to aim for in summer driving if you are enthusiastic, and have a good % on the hwy. It means driving about 85 kmh and using fuel efficient driving techniques of course

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Yesterday I got an instantaneous 0 L/100km as I rolled down a 1 km hill.However, my average is still 4.9Numbers are funny.Dave :lol:

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They may be, but I'm willing to bet with some effort, you can get your 4.9 down to 4.0 :)

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It gets harder and harder as the tanks pile up. At 30,530 Km, I just did a short tank (387 Km, 16.05 L) netting a 4.15 L/100 Km for it. My average remained at 4.68 L/100 Km, but my mpUSg went up by 0.1 to 50.3! :)

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Hi Guys!I too have had my smart fortwo since June of 2007... except I must have different tires than the OP because mine are Continental EcoContact and are definately not all-season - they've got an obvious summer tread pattern - so I have WinterContact tires... I got mine used (dealer demo) with 8000k on it from Thornhill smart for a great price - basically got a passion with the radio upgrade for the price of a Pulse...Anyway, I have about 31665km on mine and am averaging between 4.5 and 4.0 in all-city driving... I'm using the Fuel Logbook at Torontogasprices to keep track... I had one horrible tank in the winter - in the worst of the snowstorms - a 7.5l/100k tank...I'm not sure why, but it's possible I may have made at least a few late gear changes to stay planted.Otherwise, I have noticed a difference in the way I achieve fuel economy after 30000km hit... Initially, I used to keep it geared as low as possible without lugging... Trying to stay at stable speeds at around 1900 rpm. Sometimes when coasting I'd gear down to get rid of a bit of the engine braking. Now I find I get better fuel economy if I don't gear down, but rather, if I'm under 2500rpm, I just let it stay in that gear and let the engine slow me down, doing this got me from 4.5 to 4.1 as an average... Additionally, when I do occasionally hop on the highway, my 100km/h fuel economy is much better now than it was below 30000km. After a year plus of use, I still love my smart - it's a tonne of fun to drive!

Edited by frankie5string

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FE, YTD

I was behaving until the summer... then Yeehaw! But still trending down again, even in the fun zone ;)

Posted Image

:sun:

P.S. this is with 175/55r/15 in all four corners - Quatrac2 four-season tires. Next summer... summer tires!

Edited by bilgladstone

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Mine is so boring, lifetime FE of 3.91 L/100 km for months and months. I am working on a particularly evil tank right now though ;)

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TMy 4.9 average is only for over the last 2 months or so. I'm at 15,000km now, barely broken in.My overall average since new purchase 16 months ago is 5.12 and that includes the early breakin period and our snowy and long '07/'08 winter in Markham, ON.As of a couple of days ago, after my last fillup, I've been trying to adopt some new driving habits as an experiment.I'm happy with my fuel usage, but am curious what certain changes will do.So I'm keeping my rpm's lower by shifting sooner, staying under 2,500 as much as possible, trying not to compete with traffic so much, and easing off sooner when I see a stop coming up.Dave

I'm completely dissapointed.For the last tankfull, as an experiment, I changed my more agressive driving habits and kept my rpm's lower by shifting sooner, staying under 2,500 as much as possible, cruising at 1.800-2,000 regardless of which gear/speed I'm at, trying not to compete with traffic so much, and easing off sooner when I see a stop coming up.Only thing I didn't do was turn off the engine at stop lights.My FE for this latest tank was 4.87L/100km as compared to my last two months average of 4.9L/100km. Basically the same.I guess I'll go back to letting the computer do the shifting and enjoy driving my Smart more.Or maybe I should kepp trying, to get a longer term average, as topping off the tank is not always accurate for one tankfull.I can't for the life of me understand how others get 4 and even 3L/100km ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?Dave2006 Passion diesel

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What kind of driving do you do predominately? If your doing nothing but city driving, i would expect these kinds of results. Often my short city trips are around the 5L/100km mark.

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My driving is mostly city with recent average of 4.9L/100km.So I guess I shouldn't expect better then.It still surprises me that I get the same results with either automatic or manual. It indicates that the programmed automatic is quite efficient as I cannot seem to improve using manual and conservative style driving.Dave2006 Passion cdi

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My driving is mostly city with recent average of 4.9L/100km.So I guess I shouldn't expect better then.It still surprises me that I get the same results with either automatic or manual. It indicates that the programmed automatic is quite efficient as I cannot seem to improve using manual and conservative style driving.Dave2006 Passion cdi

There are only two times when i manual shift: 1) When the engine is cold, and i don't want it to rev to high (i'm kind of silly about it, but it's just something i do)2) When i'm on a highway going over 80 and it won't shift into 6th on it's own.The car is rated at 4.6l/100 km in the city. so 4.9 isn't completely unreasonable. With practice using a scanguage, or something similar, you could definitely improve that, and maby even beat the rating, but your not doing too bad. If you use the air conditioning/heater booster/heated seats a lot, or if you do only very short trips, you will get higher numbers then the rating, even driving perfectly. The biggest thing you can do in the city to improve mileage in my opinion is to coast as much as you can. It's hard to do, and harder to get used to, but almost coasting to a stop every time without brakes saves loads of fuel i find. That being said, don't be a jerk either, and hold up traffic :P

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Well, colder weather and short trips won't help you much, but also, one tank isn't a fair trial of the car's capabilities.If you were near, I'd loan you a ScanGauge so you could SEE the difference the driving style makes.If you are happy with 4.5 to 5.0, then just keep driving. It's better to drive a bit harder if it's all short trips anyway... IMO, especially with winter in mind

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:) I've had my incredible 2006 Smart Diesel for 16 months. I love it, specially at fillup time.I fell in love with these little hummers on trips to Europe where they proliferate.Is great even in our Toronto snowy winters with it's original all-season radials.I've kept track of my fuel usage with an Excel spread sheet. It calculates L/100Km, mpg Cdn and mpg USA.It does this for each fillup and also calculates running averages and overall totals and overall averages.I had to convert it to a PDF to post it here as an attachment because this blog will not accept Excel XLSX format files.It's easy to use and update if you have basic spreadsheet ability.If you wish to use my Excel XLSX file to keep track of your own fuel usage, be it gas or diesel, let me know and I'll email you the Excel file.Keep on SMARTing and smiling ! :) Dave

Dave can I possibly get you to email me the Excel file so I can keep track of my mileage. ryan.ruby@hotmail.com is the email.Thanks a bunch Ryan

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