smart Canada

smart fortwo cabriolet travels 6,587 km from Victoria to Halifax on $268 of diesel fuel (October 26, 2005)

Toronto -- Earlier this year, Mercedes-Benz Canada was approached by a Montreal editor representing an automotive publication with the idea of driving a smart fortwo across the country. While this had already been achieved by Transport Canada when they were doing long-term testing on the smart before the car was certified, it had never been done by a third party non-biased publication. Mercedes-Benz Canada liked the concept and agreed to provide them the car for the cross-country trek.

The publication in question was “Le Guide de l’Auto” and their proposed story outline was to prove that the smart fortwo could travel coast-to-coast across more than 6,500 kilometres on less than $300 of fuel. Editor Denis Duquet assigned driver Guy Desjardins and his co-pilot and navigator Lucienne Chénard to undertake this crossing. They embarked on their ten-day journey in Victoria. The smart cabriolet was a standard production vehicle and was in no way specially modified for this trip.

Their planned course took them from Victoria to Kamloops, then onto Calgary, to Moose Jaw, Winnipeg, then through Thunder Bay, Sault Ste-Marie, Ottawa, Quebec City and Edmunston to complete the journey in Halifax. The ten-day trip meant some very long days of driving under diverse and at times challenging road and climatic conditions; an average of 660 kilometres was driven per day and they averaged a fuel consumption of 4.02 litres/100kms. The price of the diesel fuel ranged from $0.922 out west to $1.149 out east but averaged to $1.004/litre.

Journalist and driver Guy Desjardins commented in his journal, “Our immediate first impressions at the wheel of the smart were extremely positive. On the tenth and final day of the trip, I looked back at our overall journey and appreciated how well the smart had handled and how thoroughly this trip had proven that such a small car is actually a pleasure to drive over such long distances. As I arrived in Halifax at dusk, despite my weariness, I realized with excitement that we had reached our objective of a trouble-free drive across Canada on less than $300 of fuel.”

“Le Guide de l’Auto” Editor, Denis Duquet said, “There you go, there is now proof that small and economical can find themselves in the plans of a transcontinental trek. The smart is not an object of curiosity but rather a well-conceived vehicle, capable of transporting its occupants in a surprising comfort while respecting an average diesel fuel consumption of 4.02 litres/100km. These results should make us reflect.”

The 2.5m smart fortwo coupés and cabriolets have been a cross-country triumph with more than 4,000 units sold in Canada since its launch one year ago. The smart fortwo’s 3-cylinder 799 cc, 40 hp engine with an impressive 74 lb-ft of torque has also been very well received everywhere across the country and surprisingly coveted in secondary and tertiary centres as well as rural communities. An important number of smart owners are using their vehicles for long-distance daily commutes. Many of them have shared with Mercedes-Benz Canada their overall level of satisfaction while others have professed how much they love their really cool vehicle.