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I have been driving a 2006 smartfortwo for three years in Canada mainly in and around Vancouver. My urban mileage is about 60 /gallon or as we say here, 4.3 litres/100 km. This is using low sulphur deisel fuel. This is the same car that has been proved in Europe for 10 years.
The 2008 model designed expressly for the US market was downgraded to suit Detroit's fear of fuel efficient foriegn vehicles. Made larger and longer, the car now suffers from a 1 litre petrol engine from Mitsubishi, not the 799 cc deisel by Mercedes, as used in the original older model. This engine also demands expensive premium petrol and then only gives the owner 40mpg !
As fuel economy is the major purpose of the smartcar I can say that the US market for the European smartcar has been manipulated on behalf of the Detroit moguls who are now reaping their reward for wasting fuel and other raw materials for the last 80 years.
The current 2009 iteration of the Mercedes Deisel for the smartcar gets an amazing 85.6 mpg with an increase in performance. You guys have been had royally.
