So How Many Clear 600kms A Tank?

[scwmcan 0]

Derek, b100 is biodiesel 100 (i.e. 100% biodiesel). I don't know if there is somewhere in your area to get it or not, you can get the same effect by filling a jerry can with diesel and topping up the tank at home. I think you are doing quite well myself though, I regularly only get 120km to the first blob (best I have done is 150). I am not too worried about it as even with a super fill I would need to fill up every other day (I drive 450-480 km in two days), so it isn't worth my time, I am more concerned with the l/hkm than how many k I cam go on a tank. I find that I fill till I see the fuel almos spilling out, by the time I drive around the corner to my house I could put more fuel in, so that is how you can do a superfill like sameguy. Lot's of luck in your quest for the 600 km mark.

So you think you need to get to 200km on the first blob before you come close to the 600km overall. Well, I still haven't come close. I only every get 160-175km on the first blob. :(Well I guess i'm not superfilling it as much as I though. I'm got to have to figure out this B100 stuff ... to to buy and how much it costs. Is that what is says on the package "B100"

[Leadwing 565]

I regularly only get 120km to the first blob (best I have done is 150).

You need to change your nic to Lead-foot ..... My worst without super filling is 175km before the first blob goes away.

[scwmcan 0]

Maybe I do , but I think it is just the way my car goes through the guage honestly, I normally put less than 18 litres in and have gone 440-480 km on that, it winds up that if I went to zero I would probably have close to a 600 km tanks, so I still think just the way it reads, in any case I am quite happy with less than $50 / week on my 1100km plus of communting per week. I know I could do a bit better but my milage isn't too far out of whack so I am not too worried about it all in all.

You need to change your nic to Lead-foot ..... My worst without super filling is 175km before the first blob goes away.

[MikeT 744]

I usually get about 100-120 km on the first blob, but the FE is still around 4 on both cars.

[derekbrochu 0]

Well that is good then. So B100 isn't an additive at all. Ok cool. I thought maybe it was. Does B100 have an advantage to adding to normal diesel ?? Who sells B100 anyways (Not just in london and area) But everywhere... I will trip to go pick up a Jerry Can and keep it so that I can top up. Or maybe I'll just start using the Diesel Gold all the time now? Is that better fuel? I am really Lost when it come to diesel what is good and what isn't.I am going to get to the 600KM mark (not this tank I only have 2 blobs left and i am only at 330km. the third blob left me at 302km) but I should get what ... 500 and something I figure.ANyways thank for all your help gang. I guess I will keep getting there for the 600KM tank. (my holy grail)

[MightyMouseTech 0]

No, what I was pointing out is that the tires themselves only make a 0.2 L/100 difference. The weather effect can be added on top of that. But the seasonal variation out here is negligible.

Exactly, you live on the wet coast, you don't get winter.And on the original topic, I have never seen 600 km/tank yet.... I think my best is 550 km/tank with 0.0L remaining. Edited October 7, 2010 by MightyMouseTech

[derekbrochu 0]

Exactly, you live on the wet coast, you don't get winter.And on the original topic, I have never seen 600 km/tank yet.... I think my best is 550 km/tank with 0.0L remaining.

But I also saw in an other thread you like to drive your Smart Fast... or at least on the faster side. but Still 550KM/Tank is amazing considering the size of our tanks. Most normal size cars only get that.Well my quest still goes on trying for that 600KM/tank

[houseofdiesel 9]

Cruise control IS NOT going to help your fuel economy, it takes it away. You want a constant throttle position not a constant speed, the scan guage will show you engine load, try to hold it at a certain % and your economy will sky rocket. Diesels like a steady state (trains, ships, etc) not constant variation. Cruise will ask for heavy throttle to maintain speed going up hills or in heavy winds. It cannot read the road so it overthrottles then decellerates which consumes fuel.Husky, Sunoco Gold both are excellent fuels whenever available. It is very hard to know if your getting good fuel so it is very important to analyse your numbers after each fill up and stick with that fuel supplier once your happy with the results. Good fuel is worth 10-20% in FE and means much more to your engine life and reduced maintenace costs (injectors, egr valve, turbo etc). Go to cdn tire and pick up some powerservice in the white bottle, worth every penny I have witnessed injectors that were used with and without firsthand. The smart was designed to use 50 cetane diesel fuel, the canadian minimum is 40, hence the good fuel adding to your FE. Think of cetane like octane, and you need the "super ultra premium" kind...Your engine will slowly adjust to your habits also, I find it takes 4-5 months after buying a used diesel to get decent FE out of it, I cannot explain it but everytime I buy another diesel it takes some driving before it matches the economy of the last one. Has nothing to do the type of diesel be it Mercedes, VW, smart idi or di they all get better after owning a few months, they never start off high. Rain is big factor, wet roads take away 10% FE. I run 34-35 psi in the tires, about as much punishment as I can handle from the hard tires. Superfilling has nothing to do with FE, just range. I have never put more then 20L in my smart, and get 600kms the last couple of tanks. This tank might go 700, but I have the car parked now for 2 months waiting for better weather the rains sucks. It goes away once the salt is spread too, I might drive it a couple of weeks soon before it is parked for the winter. If your not getting 4L/100km why bother with a smart? Just drive a VW and have more space, a faster car and the same FE.

[derekbrochu 0]

Well Thanks for your input house of Diesel, However, if your driving on a flat road and you use your head you would be able to adjust while running a cruise control. I find that as I am driving I slowly creep up in the RPM's because my foot starts to get heavy. so cruise will help with that don't you think. Also how slow do you drive to get 700km a tank of diesel? that seems a little far fetch to me unless you are really driving slow. And isn't there a point where slow driving is worse then fast driving? Well thanks for your input anyways. I will consider it on my quest to get 600KM/tankcheers

[derekbrochu 0]

Today is fill up day for my Smartie!!!!! Who's excited? I know I am. When I find out what my FE is this week I will post it. I am almost a little to excited to find out but I am counting the hours down till I can go fill up my car. Plus I am going on a trip this weekend for Thanksgiving. I hope to get good FE on the way home and Back! (Only back HWY's ... HWY 4 & 20 & 21.) Nothing over 90KM/Hr 600KM a Tank Here I Come!!!!! LOL!Everyone enjoy their Long weekend!

[Francesco 71]

Well Thanks for your input house of Diesel, However, if your driving on a flat road and you use your head you would be able to adjust while running a cruise control. I find that as I am driving I slowly creep up in the RPM's because my foot starts to get heavy. so cruise will help with that don't you think.

It takes some extra thinking, but with experience AND a ScanGauge, you will see exactly what Houseofdiesel is trying to explain. Picture, if you will, that your accelerator pedal has no spring and is very stiff; where you set it, it stays. Now picture a display on a ScanGauge that tells you what kind of "load" you're placing on the engine; use the pedal and gear shifter to find a "load" that yields the best fuel economy at the speed you wish to drive, and leave the pedal there. If you're in the correct rev range, the speed will change some when the road climbs a bit or a breeze gusts up -- but the "load" and the fuel economy readout shouldn't change much at all.

[Graham 0]

It takes some extra thinking, but with experience AND a ScanGauge, you will see exactly what Houseofdiesel is trying to explain. Picture, if you will, that your accelerator pedal has no spring and is very stiff; where you set it, it stays. Now picture a display on a ScanGauge that tells you what kind of "load" you're placing on the engine; use the pedal and gear shifter to find a "load" that yields the best fuel economy at the speed you wish to drive, and leave the pedal there. If you're in the correct rev range, the speed will change some when the road climbs a bit or a breeze gusts up -- but the "load" and the fuel economy readout shouldn't change much at all.

When we got our smart, gauge was in the middle, so we guessed 1/2 full or say about 12L.

At next fill up, we put in 16L to fill tank.

Then next time 14L to fill (I was talking to guy next to me and tank overflowed - It filled so soon )

Anyway, we found we had done 602km.

Our estimate of the amount in tank when we got car may be wrong, but that is 602km on about 20L (if my math is correct) Probably not quite right, but it was around Kingston with no stop start driving and no high speed driving. No matter what, amazing compared with our other cars!

[MikeT 744]

Cruise is great and even with it, I've been averaging 3.94 on the older of the two smarts over a mere 170,000 km. Yes you can do better using your foot and SG feedback, but after 4 hours in the saddle the hard-sprung accelerator takes a toll. After 8 hours it is bad and after 12 it is excruciating. After 15 it is unspeakable!

[rkelln 0]

I just realized 600kms on my last tank, without the scanguage hooked up and not really trying terribly hard, it has been windy and rainy the last week or so around Ottawa so I know I can do MUCH better. Just wondering how many clear the 600 mark on every tank of fuel? I have always been in the 500 range, taking 17-18L to fill, I never see 20L on a fill yet, I live far away from Sunoco Gold so when I am near the pump I fill up. The car only has 15000kms to date, 06 Cabrio Pure. I usually have the top/windows down unless it is raining. I have yet to match my VW Passat's record of 3L/100km but I don't think the engine is "worn in" enough yet to see the low rpms that takes. Greg

Roy K. Mission B.C.- 610 km on 20 liters ( Highway) last week!!!

[derekbrochu 0]

Man I did a super fill this weekend. It was my firt time ever doing this. I put in 17.5 littlers and then later on (I drove across the street) and filled up 1.5 more. I drove 197.2 km's on the first blob. not I am at 391kms and still have two blobds left. not really sure how much KM's are left in the second to last blob. However I fill like this 600km tank is going to be my enemy for life Well, Off to work I go, I hope the second last blob stays there till at least 450 or I may only get 500KM which i don't understand other then that the 2 and 1/2 hour drive with no cruise is rough on your foot. well, Everyone is right it still is way better then my old oldsmobile.Cheers

Edited October 12, 2010 by derekbrochu

[Francesco 71]

As soon as the third blob disappears (two left), you should have 11 Litres left before "0.0 L" comes up and stays lit. If you're averaging 4.0 L/100 Km, that means you might be able to reach 225 Km on the final two blobs (plus the last three indicated Litres).

[MightyMouseTech 0]

But I also saw in an other thread you like to drive your Smart Fast... or at least on the faster side. but Still 550KM/Tank is amazing considering the size of our tanks. Most normal size cars only get that.

True. In the city, most other cars on the road can not usually keep up with me..... but on the highway, I usually set the cruise at about 105 km/hr and just sit back and relax.

[houseofdiesel 9]

Slow, well I maintain my speed so not slow. I run around backroads where the speed limit is 80km/h, and a good share of gravel where 60km/h is prudent. I rarely see divided highways in the smart, only on long trips where I need to get somewhere wihtout stopping every so often (traffic lights etc) but I have only been on two trips with it so far. I keep mine to max of 90km/h (I tried 100-105, the FE sucked!). I don't commute in the sense of rush hour, I left that situation a few years ago and haven't missed it at all. I hold my momentum, I NEVER brake or slow down unless needed, no left foot resting on the pedal here! I coast whenever possible, meaning when I am X distance from my driveway I know I can put it in neutral and make into my entrance without braking or needing more speed. Less time idling once there too. Same with some stop signs, especially in towns I coast up to some of them knowing when and where I need speed, most of them are in 40km/h zones so speed has nothing to do with it. Do I piss off other drivers? Very few, again I am rural and the time of day I drive most is after the early morning rush to get my first coffee type of driver has alreay made it to work. I am very aware of who is behind me or coming up fast, I let em by. I don't hog the road at low speed. Nobody ever keeps pace with me on onramps or the many roundabouts in town, pretty amusing. I catch up to everyone that passes me at the two stop lights I encounter anyways...Greg

[Francesco 71]

Coasting down in gear uses even less fuel than coasting in neutral.

[derekbrochu 0]

Slow, well I maintain my speed so not slow. I run around backroads where the speed limit is 80km/h, and a good share of gravel where 60km/h is prudent. I rarely see divided highways in the smart, only on long trips where I need to get somewhere wihtout stopping every so often (traffic lights etc) but I have only been on two trips with it so far. I keep mine to max of 90km/h (I tried 100-105, the FE sucked!). I don't commute in the sense of rush hour, I left that situation a few years ago and haven't missed it at all. I hold my momentum, I NEVER brake or slow down unless needed, no left foot resting on the pedal here! I coast whenever possible, meaning when I am X distance from my driveway I know I can put it in neutral and make into my entrance without braking or needing more speed. Less time idling once there too. Same with some stop signs, especially in towns I coast up to some of them knowing when and where I need speed, most of them are in 40km/h zones so speed has nothing to do with it. Do I piss off other drivers? Very few, again I am rural and the time of day I drive most is after the early morning rush to get my first coffee type of driver has alreay made it to work. I am very aware of who is behind me or coming up fast, I let em by. I don't hog the road at low speed. Nobody ever keeps pace with me on onramps or the many roundabouts in town, pretty amusing. I catch up to everyone that passes me at the two stop lights I encounter anyways...Greg

Well Greg, that is crazy. I do the costing thing too!. But I always wonder is it hard on the semi-manual transmission? I use to do the costing all the time in my manual but it was easy to pop it into nutral and cost. Well I keep trying to get that low FE. Do you have a scan gague?

Coasting down in gear uses even less fuel than coasting in neutral.

Really you think you get better FE in coasting down in gear? How so? if it revs up and down isn't that burning more fuel then costing in "idel" while costing to a stop light???Well I am at 483km with one Blob to go? I hope I have a 117km in the tank left!!!

[MikeT 744]

Should be easy if you run it to 0.

[Francesco 71]

Really you think you get better FE in coasting down in gear? How so? if it revs up and down isn't that burning more fuel then costing in "idel" while costing to a stop light???

Another subject that's been discussed many many times here (and in every car forum since electronic fuel injection became the standard): in most cars today, when you take your foot off the pedal at speeds above tick-over, the computer shuts off fuel delivery to the engine. The smart cdi does this too. 'Zero fuel' is less than 'some fuel' while the engine is idling. The ScanGauge will show you this ("0.0 LHK") every time you get off the pedal. The only way coasting in neutral will use less fuel is on exceedingly long coasts on flat ground where engine braking would slow you down too much to cover the distance you wish to coast. But in most driving situations that simply won't happen, and honestly for the few times per drive you could even (safely) attempt it, it doesn't save enough fuel to mitigate the effort. No offense, but creeping along at 15 Km/h to roll up to the turn off is silly, when I could just do the last bit at 40 in 4th and use an extra 3 millilitres of diesel.

Well I am at 483km with one Blob to go? I hope I have a 117km in the tank left!!!

When the fourth blob goes out and you just start the last one, you should have seven litres left before the "hidden reserve." No reason you can't go 150 Km or more on that last blob.

[derekbrochu 0]

Another subject that's been discussed many many times here (and in every car forum since electronic fuel injection became the standard): in most cars today, when you take your foot off the pedal at speeds above tick-over, the computer shuts off fuel delivery to the engine. The smart cdi does this too. 'Zero fuel' is less than 'some fuel' while the engine is idling. The ScanGauge will show you this ("0.0 LHK") every time you get off the pedal. The only way coasting in neutral will use less fuel is on exceedingly long coasts on flat ground where engine braking would slow you down too much to cover the distance you wish to coast. But in most driving situations that simply won't happen, and honestly for the few times per drive you could even (safely) attempt it, it doesn't save enough fuel to mitigate the effort. No offense, but creeping along at 15 Km/h to roll up to the turn off is silly, when I could just do the last bit at 40 in 4th and use an extra 3 millilitres of diesel.When the fourth blob goes out and you just start the last one, you should have seven litres left before the "hidden reserve." No reason you can't go 150 Km or more on that last blob.

Thanks Sameguy, I never knew that.. So your telling me as soon as i lift my foot off the gas the computer shuts off the fuel flow to the engine. I never knew this ever.Now I have drive 525 and i have 4.5/5.0 L left (when i shut off my engine it just turned from 5.0 to 4.5) so it's some where inbetween. I find it goes up and down between .5l's all the time. :lol:So i think I can do at least 75 kms on the last 4.5L because i am driving under 4.2L/100km on average. SO YEAH GO ME!!!!!! When I get that 600KM I am so taking a picture LOL!!!!!!Cheers

[Francesco 71]

Obsession is unhealthy. :PAim for good fuel economy without being an unsafe driver -- that's more important than some magic (and inconsequential) number like 600 Km per tank. You could fill up and put in 7 L after the first blob every time and still get 4.0 L/100 Km or better.

[derekbrochu 0]

oh your right. but I just want to get a 600km tank just once. LOL! Then I can Say I did it with out a scan gauge or cruise control just simpley driving to and from work at a normal pace like a normal Accountant would on their way to work. And getting 600KM would blow away my old car (Best I ever got was 506 and it ran out of gas 2 KM from a gas station) and it has a 45L tank! So getting 600Km just once to me ... so i can say I did it would be AMazing!:lol:Obsession maybe a little!