Place your bets on the smart...

[smartzuuk]

I'm aiming for at least 100 mpg US based on repeatable round trips of at least 100 miles.

Here's the plan for the smart, as I see it today:

Current (stock) front tire width is 145mm, rear is 175mm

I've got some steel wheels in trade now, and will be putting the fronts from this set onto the rear.

In Europe, the car is rated for 3.1 L/100 hwy with the 145/175 combo - but with a wider combo (175/195) it is rated at 3.3

So there is roughly a 6.5% penalty based on the extra 50mm per side of the car. My best guess is that I can gain 4% economy by putting the narrower tires onto the rear. (Note: 2000-2002 smart diesel models came with 3.5 inch front wheels instead of 4 inch, and had 135 mm tires as stock... I could acquire those, but not at 'any cost'...)

I'm going to do a wheel skirt mod. Not going to get technical on this one - simply put, I'm going to use Darin's number of 3% as a gain.

Vortex Generators - this one could be interesting. The smart is .36 cd I think, and it's abrupt end at the back seemingly make it a good candidate for the VG mod. I'm going out on a limb and saying another 2% gain there.

These mods collectively add up to a 9% potential improvement. Being that I can already get 93 mpg US on a round trip in cold weather (39-45F) without my Milligan's fuel conditioner - getting repeatable round trips of 100 mpg is very realistic. The question remains at what speed... I'll aim to do it at 50 mph.

I don't need to pulse, glide, or go fishing to do any of this... I'll simply set the cruise and go...

There are a host of other things to play with, but they are all small percentage items IMO.

Thoughts?

I do plan on keeping good records of these mods, and posting the results.