451 Actual Realistic Mileage, Anyone? Options

[BrianC]

Hi All,

Some of you may remember me while I'm a newbie for others.
I was one of the first few 450 owners in Canada when it was first launched.
Managed to do 3.9L/100km over 46000km before I was forced to sell my car.
There is NOT one single day went by that I don't regret selling it

Now I'm in the position to get myself another one but was so disheartened to find out that they no longer offer Diesel version on 451 and the gas version's published fuel consumption figures are down right terrible.

Are there any 451 owners out there who can report a more pleasing fuel consumption value?
Even if it's somewhere around 4 - 4.5L/100km combined, I'd pull the trigger and get myself into a new fortwo this X'mas.
If it's really as bad as published (5.9L/100km) or worse, then I guess I'll have to wait until they eventually bring a diesel version back or try to find a nice used one.

Any help are greatly appreciated!

best regards,
BrianC

[Mike T]

If you got 3.9 with a 450 cdi, you should be around 4.9 with a 451. Most users in Europe so far are in the 6 range.

[BrianC]

Wow, that's scary. I don't consider myself outstanding doing 3.9L on the 450, just an average driver (sorry Mike T, I know you're in the 3.9L range too and I do not mean to put you in average grade, you are one of the few names I recall from a previous forum and your knowledge on the car is beyond superb!!), so I guess I'd really have to struggle to get into the below 5.0 when everyone else in Europe is doing 6'ish.

I might sweet talk/pay some money/arm wrestle my sales rep into letting me keep the test-drive overnite, and I'll try to burn a full tank of gas to see how good (or bad) I do on the 451.

[Alex]

When in France during Sept. we rented a turbo passion for 2800 Km. Not too good milage conditions, I would expect around 4.75 to 5.25 on my cdi. The new one's best tank was 6.10, worst 8.22 ! Avg 6.57. Not impressive that's for sure. Runs hot too, I wouldn't expect great life. Sure is peppy though. Get a used CDI and wait for the new model bugs to get addressed and the CDI to come to North America

[jamessmart]

Good question - I still think in MPG, trying to convert thinking over to L per 100, I think metric for temp and distance OK!! I hve a 92 VW van that gets about 27 mpg so am looking forward to MUCH better milage on my new smart (If it ever arrives!) I will be recording and checking so will update!!

[jamessmart]

Good question - I still think in MPG, trying to convert thinking over to L per 100, I think metric for temp and distance OK!! I hve a 92 VW van that gets about 27 mpg so am looking forward to MUCH better milage on my new smart (If it ever arrives!) I will be recording and checking so will update!!

[Mike T]

6.57 is about spot on the spritmonitor average for the 84 HP Turbo. I would expect most 451 owners with the 71 HP engine to be running in the mid-6s too.

BrianC, I remember your new smart was yoinked by someone at Mercedes and they had to find you another one really quickly to save face! That was WAY back in 2004....

This post has been edited by Mike T: Dec 16 2007 - 03:08 PM

[Mike T]

This article indicates that a fortwo cdi will do 2.9 L/100 km in economical driving, though they call the motor crude and tractor-like in its operation. More interestingly perhaps, the 451 with the 61 HP engine (similar to the 71 but restricted by the mapping) can also do well: 3.7 L/100 km in economical driving, with a carbon dioxide emission of 88 g/km at that consumption level.

[jamessmart]

451 purchased Last Sat - First fill - last night - Dist - 477 Kms - Fill - 28.2 L - I figure around 50 mpg or 5.7 l/100km - rough guess, but for first tank - I'm happy.

[smartboy]

I am almost done my first fill up ... I have done mostly highway driving and currently sit at 571 km and 3.0 litres left in the tank. I am going to fill up today and track tank number two.
James aka smartboy

[denisjolicoeur]

I picked up mine on December 24th. Drove around town for a few days then took a trip from Winnipeg to Regina and MooseJaw (averaging 115 to 120 kph on the Trans Canada). Unfortunately I'm dealing with really bad conditions that negatively affect mileage on any vehicle. My wife and I are both lead-foots, extreme cold for a few days; -25'C, and then 70-90kph cross-winds on the highway for the trip back.

So far averaging 7.03L/100 kms (or 40.19 mpg imperial). Best tank was 6.61L/100 kms (or 42.76 mpg imperial). I'm sure this will do nothing but improve given better weather conditions and as the car breaks in and loosens up more.

[smartzuuk]

I'm looking forward to seeing what people get with the gassers, especially those who just 'drive'. And to compare that against the cdi for the same driver.

[lehter]

I too would be interested in a true cost per 100 Km comparison between the 450 and 451 considering the price of diesel vs the price of the recommended premium gas and the lower mileage of the 451. Anyone worked that out ?

[Mike T]

You'd have to factor servicing costs in as well, which are to the 451's benefit.

[glasslady]

I have not seen anybody mentioning that the 451 uses Premium Gas. Which around here is 12 cent more than regular. That doesn't make it very economical.

If we were to buy another smart, we would wait for another CDI (hopefully the Bluetec).

[glasslady]

Sorry, Lether, I have seen your reply too late.

[Nextourer]

If you guys are interested, I was working out the difference in fuel cost between a Yaris and a fortwo.

Given that they travel ~550kms on one "tank" of gas in the city (33 litres on the smart, 37 litres on the Yaris...so both cars have 5 litres left in their tank), the cost of 33 litres of premium at $1.164 is $38.41. The cost of 37 litres of regular at $1.044 is $38.63.

So it basically costs the same to fuel a smart as it does a Yaris and they both travel the same no. of kilometres (using official city figures). It's just the psychological factor that you're paying more because you're using premium.

[Carlitos]

I think that the EPA 2008 results for the 451 are quite realistic. In Europa (where I live) they say city 6.1 litre/100km and highway 4.1 litre/100km.

But that's not realistic. When I check the MPG EPA results i think that's quite realistic. Although, a 2 pers. car should use less fuel i think.
We have a lot of small 4 passenger cars that are more economical or have the same results as the smart. The Drag coefficient is quite high for the fortwo 0.37. Maye that is the reason?

You can be fortunate to have a different gearbox.The 1st is shorter in the USA and the 5th is longer, so that longer gears, helps dropping the fuel consumption.

[Carlitos]

In Addition; for the 451 cdi they say in Europe that the smart uses 3.3 litres combined. (88grams of CO2) On the Dutch an German forum, the real life results are different: 4.5-5 liters/100km is more realistic. The 450 was more economical :-(

[lightey]

after 1,700km in my 451 I'm getting 6.77 lt. I don't drive economically, a lot of 120Km/hr-ish ... and some highway driving
also, I'm on winter tyres and some of the driving was in snow. I'm happy with the consumption ... and I LOVE MY smart!!

[Nextourer]

That's not bad!

lol.. "a lot of 120km/hrish ... and some highway driving" hahaha.

[spdickey]

Here's a quick chart to help us from the USA to figure out what MPG looks like vs l/100 km



Thanks to wikipedia

[Nextourer]

Here's a quick chart to help us from the USA to figure out what MPG looks like vs l/100 km



Thanks to wikipedia

Are you sure it's the right mpg (i.e US not Imperial)?

cause 50mpg US is 4.7L/100km.
55mpg US is 4.3L/100km
60mpg US is 3.9L/100km

71mpg Imp. is 4.1L/100km.

[spdickey]

Are you sure it's the right mpg (i.e US not Imperial)?

You're right, rechecked the source, and its imperial gallons. The Brits really don't make things easy with those Imperial Gallons.

[lightey]

try this one: