In the Land of Giants

Every time I make the drive through Humboldt County in Northern California I'm just so impressed by the sheer scale of the place. The massive trees tower over the winding Old Redwood Highway. Peeling back the Smart car's convertible top was a great way to enjoy the full height of the forest. I pulled over next to one of the bigger ones and took some pictures with the car to show the scale - these shots haven't been manipulated - the trees are really that big! 

Higher mileage at any cost!

Gasoline prices in America have never been higher. Even accounting for inflation fuel has never cost so much. The introduction of the Smart car couldn't have been better timed, but its mileage figures aren't as high as the public expects considering it's diminutive size - not as good as some of the high profile hybrids.

The world "Hybrid" has a magical hold on the minds of US consumers - they would rather buy a gas-guzzling hybrid SUV than a traditionally powered economy car. Toyota is selling the hybrid version of the Camry at a $4000 premium over the standard 4-cylinder car - which achieves only two miles per gallon more! I can't imagine buying a boring, underpowered sedan over something as dynamic, different and crisply designed as a Smart car.

An Inconvenient Truth

The first question that everyone asks when they see the Smart car is "What's the mileage?" Or they just assume it's electric. People are genuinely surprised when I answer 40 – Americans look at the diminutive size of the car and assume that 60 or 80 mpg would be a reasonable guess.

I've charted the mileage from the first 15 fillups - it does fluctuate a little. I attribute this to variations in driving conditions although it it could also be inaccuracies stemming from topping off the tank differentently at each fill up. Over time I'll get a better average consumption figure. On a recent leg of highway driving through Washington and parts of Oregon I got close to 43, however that is still lower than what some Toyota Prius drivers regularly achieve. I guess us Smart owners are paying a premium for cuteness and parkability, over just maximizing mileage.

The official 2008 EPA numbers for the Smart are 33/41 – They have changed the way cars are tested this year, resulting in lower mileage numbers that more realistically indicate what you can achieve in the real world. The Toyota Prius is listed at 48/45, down from a previous 60/50.

And these are all American gallon numbers. In Britain the same Smart car would achieve 39.5/49 miles to the UK imperial gallon.

The Northern Border

This is not a divided highway in the traditional sense, but two, bi-directional roads running really close together. Why? Because the one on the right is in Canada and the road I'm driving on is on American soil. Just north of the town of Lynden, Washington these two roads straddle the border with a mere couple of feet of grass median separating the two nations. No fence, no wall, no signs or other indications that this is the very edge of the country. Border patrol cars occasionally cruise by, and there are probably some video surveillance cameras discretely stationed around, but this open accessibility does illustrate how futile it is to secure our borders. Especially a long border like the Canadian one. Seems to me it would make more sense to try and match up our laws, rules and standards and then together our two countries can concentrate on how to deal with our common border with the rest of the world.

The Pacific Northwest

I'm up here visiting family in Lynden, and I'm always struck by how beautiful this corner of the world is. Located in the very Northwest corner of Washington State three miles from the Canadian border, this thriving Dutch farming community is nestled in the coastal river valley beneath the towering snow capped mountains of the Cascade range. Of course it does rain quite a bit.

Flying High

The Smart has no problem maintaining freeway speeds, and in the lower gears can also scale the steepest hills with ease. But the combination of high speed and long mountain inclines – I wasn't sure if the car would have what it takes to climb the area around Mt. Shasta and the Siskiyou Pass on the Oregon Border (4,310 ft or 1,314 m). I thought I might be bogged down at 30 mph in the truck lane. But no worries - I buzzed on up without a hitch, occasionally having to shift down to 4th to maintain power, passing pretty much everything else on the road.

Here's a picture of the Smart sailing past Mt. Shasta (14,179 ft or 4,322 m). You can see I had the top down the whole way.

Five Hundred Miles in a Day

I decided to take the Smart car for a trip up north to visit family. Took Interstate 5, the main freeway that shoots up the middle of the California. It's more boring than 101 but considerably faster. I had no trouble in keeping up with traffic, which was moving in the 75 to 80 mpg range. Even hit an indicated 90 mph in spots but the wind makes it feel a little unstable at that speed. I found the the air-conditioning more than adequate in beating back the Central Valley heat. I actually had to turn it down a little - it got too cold! The outside temperature hovered around 90 (31 Celsius) - which is hot for Spring but nothing like the typical summer peaks of 110!

I covered over 550 miles today with the fuel mileage averaging 37. I think my average speed was a little faster than the Smart's optimum, so the mileage is lower than the best I've achieved. The air conditioning probably didn't help matters.

Sleeker than a Smart

In America we have no shortage of cars. You'd think being the biggest automotive market on earth, we would be able to buy any model manufactured in the world. But some of the coolest cars aren't imported here, especially the smaller models. I suppose their marketing departments see our wide open spaces in the movies and think we have no reason to be economical and compact. But 98 percent of the nation lives in cities, and our urban areas are getting denser all the time. Fiat makes a range of stylish cars, none of which are imported here. The brand, sullied by memories of spotty reliability, vacated the American market a while ago. Now while the rest of the world is agog with the the launch of the iconic new Fiat 500, we have to settle for the staid and practical Honda Fit.

That's what's so interesting about having the Smart car available here - it's all about variety and choice. We all own more than one car these days - why not have one, more purpose-built vehicle for transporting a single person on a long commute or for running errands. Every vehicle doesn't have to be able to seat seven and tow a cabin cruiser.

Pictured above is the relatively upmarket Fiat Stilo I snapped while visiting Prague a coupe of years ago. A very sleek looking hatchback. It would be great to be able to buy something like this here.

iPod Integration - Sort of.

Even though I've purchased a couple of new cars since the iPod's debut, the Smart was my first that came with a direct connection. Finally, I can listen to my favorite podcasts over the built in stereo system and throw away those awful FM transmitter cables (I've had very frustrated experiences with these work-around technologies - they're unusable in urban areas beacuse there's way too much interference).

The Smart has a simple mini jack input inside the glove box - plug in a short mini jack connector cable to your iPod and you're off and away. Of course there is no display or control of the iPod from the car's stereo unit itself (unlike the more sophisticated systems from BMW etc), but then I prefer navigating on my iPhone's slick interface anyway. Just keep the mp3 player close at hand and it's a cinch to shift tracks etc. You can still change the volume on the car's stereo, of course.

However you are stuck with an unsightly cord dangling out of the glove box - pretty messy if you ask me. I'm not sure what they were thinking locating the audio jack in the glove box. So I drilled another hole in the glove box allowing the cable to come out under the dash and substituted a 3 foot black cable to make it less obtrusive. Now I have full access and a much tidier solution.

Before:


After:


The Process:



I made sure I wasn't drilling into anything by looking up under the dash and feeling around a little. A better solution would be to avoid going into the glovebox at all and just tapping into the stereo itself. But that would have been a lot more work!