Smart Car

As he said "The US emissions require retuning of the cheap motor on the Smart which reduces its efficiency". Does anyone have the information on how to "RETUNE" the motor to regain the original 70 to 80 mpg? What has to be changed and or reprogramed? If you can get the milage back to where it was meant to be, the price is not so bad. Especially when you consider gas is suppose to be up to $6.00 per gal by year end.

Does anybody remember the Honda Civic VX. It was available in the early-mid 90's? It was a gasoline only engine and was supposed to get 72 mpg(Imp). The Honda Hybrids aren't even getting this, what gives?

[ex-EV1 driver]

what gives is:

- pollution controls (decrease engine efficiency)
- air bags (add weight)
- crashworthiness (add weight)
- more power (less efficient)

I also don't think it ever got 72 mpg. Maybe 50 (usg) in the US EPA test.

[Alexmerlin]

The car is produced in conjunction with Mercedes Benz and has been around for several years. The MB STAR c4 system, when it made its debut, was much more capable because it was PC-based (IBM T30 laptop), but it was also very versatile because it incorporated a HHT emulation mode (for backward compatibility) along with a \"multiplexer\" intermediate unit between the PC and the car, which allowed the connection of a variety of different diagnostic connection cables, depending on which diagnostic system the car in question happened to use. For the oldest cars (i.e. the C126, early R129 SL models, early W124s and W140s, etc.) a \"four-pin\" diagnostic cable was provided. For second-generation cars, such as the E500E, 400E/E420, middle and later R129s, middle and later W140s, the familiar \"38-pin\" plug is provided. There are also OBD-2 interface cables for model year 1996 and later cars, as well as a 14-pin cable for European diagnostic systems. All of these cables allow the combination of the MB STAR with the in-line multiplexer unit to fully interface with any particular car's computers.

[tommypress]

They're multiplying like rabbits here in Canada (Quebec). Diesel. Very economical but very small. Mainly a city car. Only two seats.

They could be a very good second commuter car, but they're not cheap. You can buy an Echo for less, have a rear seat, and still get decent mileage.

Plus, with over 100 hp the Echo will be able to keep up with traffic better than the Smart's 40 or so hp.

Yes, smart cars are essentially helpful for city drive only.

[CurtisJ]

I think the smartest car available at the moment has to be something from Tesla. It's not quite a hybrid, but I think it makes up for that by being able to drive itself

[bterfift]

I've seen a lot of smart cars in Europe. But haven't seen one in the US.