Time to set off, and with a quick turn of the key, which curiously was in the same position between the seats as the Swedish Saab, the motor purred into life. Purred being the operative word here, as the exhaust note was barely noticeable at all.
My tester came with a semi-standard (no clutch)/auto transmission, and to be honest, at first, I found it rather jumpy when changing gears. It took me a little while to become accustomed to this, but I soon found that if I kept my foot firmly planted on the accelerator and manually changed gear, not only were the shifts smoother, but the little car became quite lively.
Now of course, in-town traffic is what this car is all about, and so few would venture out onto the highway in one, would they?
Well I did, and it was then that I came upon my next shock. Being powered by an 800cc 3-cylinder diesel engine, I had visions of sitting in the slow lane waiting for a strong gust of wind to come from behind. In fact, I was slightly worried that I should have brought a friend to run in front of me with the red flag.
The truth couldn't have been further from this, and in no time at all, I was zipping past vehicles on the outside lane enjoying the look of confusion on my fellow road-users' faces. Now, I'm not going to say exactly what speed I obtained. Let's just say that the typical, not posted, rate of speed on a 400 highway is ....... Purely in the interests of evaluation purposes, I was doing between that and the speed of the driver who passed me, having obviously not seen the car with the pretty red lights who was sitting on his tail!
Now obviously, an 800cc diesel engine will not win many drag races, and on the highway you have to drive accordingly. I found that when passing a larger vehicle, it was wise to wait until the car in front had completely passed, because it has to be said that the diesel powered smart car lacks the acceleration characteristics of most gasoline powered vehicles.
This really didn't bother me, and was something which I quickly became accustomed to. In fact, the smart cars minor shortfalls were completely forgotten, when after several days of driving, I filled it from nearly empty to full with just 12 dollars worth of diesel!
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| This little engine is located under the trunk floor. |
My tester came with a semi-standard (no clutch)/auto transmission, and to be honest, at first, I found it rather jumpy when changing gears. It took me a little while to become accustomed to this, but I soon found that if I kept my foot firmly planted on the accelerator and manually changed gear, not only were the shifts smoother, but the little car became quite lively.
Now of course, in-town traffic is what this car is all about, and so few would venture out onto the highway in one, would they?
Well I did, and it was then that I came upon my next shock. Being powered by an 800cc 3-cylinder diesel engine, I had visions of sitting in the slow lane waiting for a strong gust of wind to come from behind. In fact, I was slightly worried that I should have brought a friend to run in front of me with the red flag.
The truth couldn't have been further from this, and in no time at all, I was zipping past vehicles on the outside lane enjoying the look of confusion on my fellow road-users' faces. Now, I'm not going to say exactly what speed I obtained. Let's just say that the typical, not posted, rate of speed on a 400 highway is ....... Purely in the interests of evaluation purposes, I was doing between that and the speed of the driver who passed me, having obviously not seen the car with the pretty red lights who was sitting on his tail!
Now obviously, an 800cc diesel engine will not win many drag races, and on the highway you have to drive accordingly. I found that when passing a larger vehicle, it was wise to wait until the car in front had completely passed, because it has to be said that the diesel powered smart car lacks the acceleration characteristics of most gasoline powered vehicles.
This really didn't bother me, and was something which I quickly became accustomed to. In fact, the smart cars minor shortfalls were completely forgotten, when after several days of driving, I filled it from nearly empty to full with just 12 dollars worth of diesel!
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| The fortwo is one of the most frugal car available in Canada. |