When Prius met smart

I hate to say it but for 1 person or a couple and live in the city the car is a perfectly acceptable mode of transport. It'll turn circles around a Prius and the interior room for two is about the same as the front of a Prius. Not a lot of baggage space but it'll haul your groceries no problem. The one young lady I asked about her mileage said about 50 in the short trips she makes. Mobile insurance broker. She said perfect for what she wants. And forget about needing a backup camera you can park the thing anywhere, including straight in.

 

I saw quite a few of them parked in that manner in London, Brussels and Amsterdam. It is a great city car.

 

I love SMART
SMART is so small able to park 2 car in single parking sopt
[Broken External Image]:http://www.fashionablearmchair.com/monkphotos/un/k_2 Smart Cars_thumbnail.jpg

I saw few SMART in my town, I would love get one :mrgreen:

 

If Mercedes (under the smart name) were to import real smarts into the USA they would be much cheaper than a Prius. In Canada a Prius retails starting at just over $30,000 CDN. The diesel smart is 1200 euros more than the gasoline version (read that as about $1800 CDN) so a basic pure gasoline smart should cost about $14,700 CDN. Convert that to US Dollars and you have a real idea of the retail cost of a gasoline smart.

The bottom line is a basic diesel smart is 1/2 the price of a Prius. It gets as good or better fuel economy. Mine gets aprox 3.4 L/100 km hwy and aprox 4.5 L/100 km City.

 

Those sound like spot-checks, which typically don't portray accumlated real-world data.

What is your actual lifetime average?

 

The lady I talked to up the street is getting 4.4 average for the last 3 tanks. 64.2 IMP and 53.4 USG

 

I haven't tracked every tank but it's done manually (no trip computer) and my 50/50% hwy/city is 3.8 . Also that was fairly hard driving through a mountain pass going out of town (Victoria BC) .

Many are averaging 3.5 but I don't do enough highway to produce that. My average city bounces between 4.2 and 4.6 depending on airconditioner use and local conditions.

 

Hi there,

I too have a smart, in my case a convertible.

The engine runs quite clean, having an oxydation catalyst, plus they don't put MMT in Diesel in Canada. Mmmm, manganese.... Retrofitted particulate filters will be available soon, FWIW.

My fuel economy since day 1 (car with 13 km on it, January 8th, to today, at over 16,000 km) has been close to 61 US MPG.

Click on the fuel pump icon in my signature to see my entire fuel consumption records (metric, in L/100 km).

Recently I have been pushing towards 70 US MPG without really trying. For example, driving with the top down on the highway kills the aerodynamics but I do it anyway because it's fun. When the top is up in the summer, A/C will be on.

Cheers
Mike T

 

Smart Car

I own a smart pulse cabrio since Jan 05. Like all Canadian smarts, mine is turbo diesel. The pulse model has paddle shifting as well as stick. The smart is a manual transmission/clutch but with computer control. I drove it last month from Toronto, Canada to Raleigh, NC to visit my son. The numbers on the smart are deceiving. I held 65 mph in the hills of West Virginia no problem. On that trip I averaged about 60 mpg with the top down much of the way.

The interior room doesn't reflect the impression given by the exterior. One of the men who works for me is 6'6" and he can comfortablely drive it.

Smart is a very different car. Owners take great pride in pointing out the many differences from conventional cars. Like in the attached photo why is the bicycle so high. Smart is sold in 37 countries. In much of the world, it is against the law to block the license plate or brake lights. It makes for great visibility as I look back under the bike with no restriction to visibility.

 

Is the smart safe?

When I travel in my smart, one common comment is "I wouldn't want to be in an accident in that" to which I usually reply, "What would you like to be in an accident in?" But the real answer is I would prefer to be in a smart. Permit me to explain. I interviewed the senior engineer who did the crash tests for Canada. The smart was the first car ever to pass the 80k 30 degree rear offset crash test and last I heard still the only to pass it. It is an optional test.

The engineer also explained about safety and an accident timeline.

There are three parts to an accident:

1. Avoidance
2. Surviving
3. Extraction

Avoidance – Even on a base coupe ($16,500 Cdn ~ $13,200 US) you get:

• 
  
  Surviving
  
  • 
    and a tridion safety cell that has been shown very difficult to penetrate
    
    Extraction
    
    People seldom think this but now that you have survived the accident, you need to be removed from the vehicle as quickly as possible. A fireman explained to me that an average extraction from a serious accident is about 20 minutes. In all smart crash tests and history shows most accidents, the smart doors still work. Extraction is done by opening the door and cutting the seat belt not cutting off the roof.
    
    Watch the Mercedes crash tests at http://www.thesmart.ca/index.cfm?id=4785 or the Transport Canada test at http://www.thesmart.ca/index.cfm?id=4786
    
    The smart works on a safety cage like a race car rather than a crumple zone.
    
    We have noted three serious accidents so far on the forums.
    1. smart sandwiched between a large car and a Lincoln Continental at 60 km/h (35 mph)
    2. smart rear-ended while at a stop by a Lincoln Aviator at 80 km/h (48 mph)
    3. smart broadsided by a Kia SUV at over 100 km/h
    http://www.clubsmartcar.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?t=858
    
    In the first two, the drivers walked away, the third the driver was home in 3 days.
    
    Not bad for a tiny car. Is smart safe? Absolutely.

 

The tank is 22L (5.8 USG) and 600 km is quite easily achievable, with up to 700 being feasible in purely highway driving at under 100 km/h.

The welds on the seat can't really be seen unless you're looking for them - in other words, when using the (supremely comfortable) seats, you won't see that. The seats are one of the most important aspects of the car's collision management system, as they (unlike normal car seats) deform progressively in a collision, absorbing energy. I read a technical document from smart that the car behaves in a collision as though it has twice the mass it actually does, owing in part to these seats.

The plastics are similar to those of the Toyota Corolla I looked at last year, hard and not pretending to be anything else, which is fine, as it is a cheap car. On the other hand, when a car is in the $30 K+ range and still has hard plastics in the interior, I get a little cheesed off!

So when did you join spritmonitor? Your data stops in 2004....more to come?

 

Thanks for the welcome. Smart, like Prius, is aimed at high mileage, they just take different approaches. I like diesel cars. This is my third and by far the most advanced. Computer control is the key. I have never seen as much as a puff of smoke out the back of a smart ever and most people even with the engine running don't realize it is a diesel. The car starts in -30 degrees C first try and I have never plugged it in.

We just thought rather than second/third hand information you would rather talk to owners.

 

Re: Smart Car

If there is any chance of you driving it to the Raleigh, NC area again in the future, please let us know, and I'm sure the Triangle Prius Club would welcome you to drop on by one of our meetings. I would love to see one of these up close (well, up closer than I did on my vacation to Germany) and hear about it first-hand from an owner.

 

Raleigh/Durham

I'll let you know when I travel to Raleigh next.

Here is a picture of my smart car at Duke University on July 4, 2005. It was fun driving around the university getting shots.

 

Prius vs smart pricing

As smart is not available in the US, I can only compare Canadian prices. A Canadian dollar is about $.80 US.

Prius with Automatic Transmission $31,690 Cdn including delivery
Vehicle Stability Control [VSC]
Advanced Traction Control [TRAC]
ABS (Antilock Braking System) with Brake Assist
Electronic Brake Force Distribution [EBD]
Air Conditioning
Automatic Temperature Control (not available on smart)
Clean Air Filter
Cruise Control (not available on smart)
Power locks
Power Windows
Keyless entry
Power Mirrors
Alloy Wheels
Side airbags (Prius option available with Package B or C only)
Engine Immobilizer
Remote Fuel Lid Release

Smart Passion Coupe $20,790 Cdn including delivery and all features above except Automatic temp and cruise control (not available)
Includes Tinted Glass roof

This is the top smart model. The base Pure is $16,500 + $990 delivery

If you pick Prius package B or C you are well over $35,000 Cdn

 

Don't forget the diesel option for smart is 1200 euros over the gas version.

 

Diesel is the only engine available in Canada so it is not an extra. In europe diesel is an option.