The different sides of diesel: Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins vs. Smart Fortwo CDI
As was recently discussed over on Autobloggreen, Pickuptruck.com, our oft cited source for all the news that's fit to haul, has come up with an interesting comparison between diesels. The test pits one of the largest diesels this side of a semi, currently available for public consumption (and consume it does -- fuel that is), the Dodge Ram 2500 versus one of the smallest, the Smart FourTwo Brabus edition, a real-life Bambi meets Godzilla comparison.
One point that we found to be rather interesting was that the Cummins 6.7-liter diesel engine actually scales rather well when compared to the 0.8-liter engine of the Smart. In other words, if the Smart's engine were the size of the Cummins engine, it would get worse mileage. Our advice, which we could have provided even without this particular comparison test, is to buy the truck if you need to haul lots of stuff, and to buy the Smart (when it comes to the U.S.) if you want to eke the most miles out of each gallon of diesel fuel and don't need to haul much.
If you want to relive memories of pre-movie-cartoon Bambi meets Godzilla fun, click here! Thanks Tokyo!
[Source: Pickuptruck.com]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Kerm 11:09AM (4/30/2007)
New Dodge promtion. Buy a Ram and we'll drop a Smart in the cargo bed for those days your feelin green.
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Shawn 11:13AM (4/30/2007)
Wasn't there a funny Top Gear episode where they test the maneuverability of Prius and Smart... It is scary how horrible these cars drive.
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The Idiot 11:19AM (4/30/2007)
Rather unintelligent conclusion, clear manipulation of the numbers. If Ram's engine was scaled down proportionally, it would have been a 1.67 liter, and I'm quite sure the mileage would've been worse than Smart.
Also, Autoblog reporter has difficulty with reading comprehension - the article talks about increasing the size proportionally to the vehicle weight, not engine size. Although it sounds the same to the reporter, it isn't.
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jh 11:24AM (4/30/2007)
that article is really, really badly researched.
"tightly packed cities with narrow streets dating back to feudal times, when ox carts were the primary mode of conveyance"
who would EVER use that as a reason for why Europeans (is Europe a country now?) like small cars? as if nobody thought - 'oh god we don't drive carts any more...let's widen the roads!' maybe it's just that most people have realised that the average person doesn't need 650 lb of torque to drive down to the shops?
also "Over there fuel is taxed to outrageous heights but government subsidies knock diesel costs down to less than gasoline prices."
wft? diesel costs MORE than petrol in the UK, around 1-3 pence per litre more...
if the argument that he's making was actually based on fact then maybe it would be credible, but when you have to resort to "when it comes to cars the Fortwo is a tiny little rabbit pellet that’s about as useful as one to most drivers here in the good ole U.S. of A." you should really know when to give up.
stupid.
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Bill 11:34AM (4/30/2007)
Stupidity at it's best. It's logical to assume that PickupTruck.com will talk nonsense about anything and everything that is not a pickup truck, but they at least should wrap it up in a nice package. If you had any doubts about overall tone and objectivity of the article, you shouldn't right after the "Europeans have a fetish with small cars". Or, may be, the PickupTruck.com guy represents what is on this picture:
http://www.true-germany.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/02/eurovsamerica.jpg
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LyonKing 11:34AM (4/30/2007)
Ok, I know im not the only one who wanted to see a picture of the smart in the back of the dodge... but alas, no money shot
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Mike 11:42AM (4/30/2007)
Bill, how about a NSFW warning, idiot.
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nagmashot 11:54AM (4/30/2007)
there are some extrem bad mistakes in that article...
1. the smart is a hughe disaster no selling success in Europe
2. most europen cars are as big/smale as US.. you see much more BMW 5 series, Mercedes E-Class or Audi A6 in Germany as smart...and the named cars are as big/smale as typical US cars like the 300C or Charger... saw a nw Charger today in Germany... the car isn´t big.. looking smaler as a 5series from BMW.
3. the smart fortwo CDI gets 88gr/km CO2 not 140 like they claim in the article...
4. the smart fortwo reach a average of 85mpg(US) not 56mpg
5. the smart fortwo gas powered gets 112-116gr/km /CO2 with a average consuption of 60mpg and 57mpg for the most powerfull petrol powered version.
http://www.autobild.de/aktuell/meldungen/artikel.php?artikel_id=13503
taking the real technical datas of the smart and that whole pro RAM article turns out to be a big joke!
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Bill 12:58PM (4/30/2007)
Just a point about the narrow streets in Europe. While big cities like London and Paris have streets wide enough for pretty much any car, older smaller cities do in fact often have very narrow roads. As for making them wider... yeah I suppose you could knock down the buildings between two streets to get one decent width street; of course the owners of those buildings might be a little upset.
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jh 2:05PM (4/30/2007)
a cart is just as wide as a dodge ram...
but i suppose if we still all drove carts then we wouldn't need to "feel a little shy in the locker room" about the size of our horses compared to the size of their engines.
i mean..."Smart drivers might feel a little shy in the locker room knowing that their common rail is about one quarter the size of Dodge owners"
that's what it's really about, isn't it guys? grow up.
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ja 2:07PM (4/30/2007)
Rednecks gotta love em; I dun rather drive me a truck then one na dem der fancy uropean jobs shewt! Heck in da truck I can haul my 10 keeds and have aplace for ma chaw!
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Steve B. 6:52PM (4/30/2007)
This should be titled "Comparison of the worlds two most undesirable vehicles."
They actually have more in common than one would initially suspect.
A) Function over Form.
B) One trick ponies... Try parking that Dodge in a standard parking space in a city that tickets you for extending beyond the end of the space. Try hauling anything but a purse with the Smart.
C) Neither one is desirable to anyone outside of a small sliver of the population.
- The truck screams "I shovel poop for a living," and isn't going to be of any interest to someone with a real job, aside from the few who have an psychological need to drive such a vehicle. It's a tool of necessity, much like driving a garbage or tow truck.
- The smart is a toy by which one proclaims their greenness, while not having any real need for a car in any other manner. It places efficiency, both in fuel and space, at such a premium that it becomes useless as anything but a fuel miser.
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Barney 4:16PM (4/30/2007)
Cummins is making a more efficient diesel but the question is; can they make a 0.8 diesel efficient? The requirements would probably drag the little engine down.
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George Tottman 5:05PM (4/30/2007)
#8
you should chill like a marshmellow before you make more 'extrem bad mistakes'
1) where does it say the SMART is a sales success in that review? It only says the euro press loves the SMART, regardless of how good (or bad) its sales are. If you judge the car by its sales, for sure it's a loser
2) i call b.s. that most euro cars are the same size as American cars.
3) better check your l337 metric conversion skillz. The article says 1.44 g/MILE not per KM
4) The SMART only gets 56 mpg. You're thinking about the SMART Diesel Hybrid concept that supposedly gets 85-mpg
Check your technical data and get back to us. You've lost all credibility here to back up or check your stats.
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Bill 5:26PM (4/30/2007)
#12... A couple of points. 1. No need for obscenity.
2. I never said that all roads outside of the big city were narrow; indeed there are many excellent roads and highways in Europe that can put many of the roads in America to shame. I did say that there were some very narrow roads in Europe in older cities and I stand by that statement. Heck as far as I know they might be wide enough for a semi to go down, but that doesn't mean it is something that is desirable to do. Tight spots certainly make smaller cars desirable.
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PLP 9:03PM (5/01/2007)
Pickups are very useful tools. Though many people have vanity more in mind when they buy one. I own two and they are used to me only when I have a need to haul stuff. On the other hand I intend to buy a Smart car, or something like it but not because I'm particulary green minded. Unless your talking about cash green. I just want to get around town and country locally and not have to empty my wallet doing it.
I'm sure the beautiful people on the west coast will see a fashion statement to be had. But when gas gets to be $4.50+, and it will, sooner than later, a lot of nice middle income folks will come to see this as a smart way spend less of their very hard earned money regardless of what they think about the environment.
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Dave C 9:30PM (4/30/2007)
Like others pointed out, a few things are a little off with the comparison.
The $26,000 Nightrun they tested is a special edition limited to a run of only 50 vehicles in Canada. There is no performance difference between it and the $14,700 (after the government's new $2,000 clean car discount) Pure model.
The fuel consumption figures are also questionable. Smart claims 61 mpg (US) for the ForTwo CDI, but drivers generally report numbers from 65 to 90; some have even beaten 100 mpg (US). User reports tend to be optimistic, I agree, but that's how they got the numbers for the Ram, why not do the same for the Smart.
There's a lot more room in the Smart than you'd think. The original design spec was for a vehicle that can haul two people and two kegs of beer and they met that goal.
At the end of the day, both are niche vehicles. Depending on your needs either one could be perfect for you, or completely un-workable.
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Morrinn 5:22AM (5/01/2007)
I have to agree that it's damn annoying when Americans lump all of Europe together as sort-of-the-same country... I'm from Iceland and the culture shock is a whole hell of a lot bigger when going to Spain than when going to the U.S.
But since we Europeans tend to lump most Americans together as laughably patriotic religious fanatics, I guess we do deserve most of what we get =)
But what's up with all the pickup truck bashing I see going on around here? A good truck is a good truck and a bad truck a bad truck. There is certainly nothing fundamentally wrong with the concept of a diesel pickup truck.
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nagmashot 4:50AM (5/01/2007)
#14
1. from the article
....One of Europe’s favorite diesel-driven rides is the inline-3 (not a typo), 0.8-liter (not a typo) Smart Fortwo CDI two-person passenger car....
this is simple a lie!!!!!!!!!
The smart selling is a joke!
The smart fortwo does not make it in the top50 model selling ranking. Smart as a manufactor is only ranking at 27th with only disapointing 1448 vehicles(all models!) sold in march 2007.
Smart is the biggest money grave in the DC empire... befor selling Chrysler Daimler should kill the smart project!
2) the largest part of the US market is in the hand of imports... selling exactly the same cars as in europe..there is no size different between a Civic in the USA and in Europe, there is no different size between a Toyota Yaris, Corolla etc sold in USA and Europe. Chrysler 300C, charger etc are based on a 1996 Mercedes E-Class chassie... the only different is your SUV´s.. which are not populare in Europe.
were is the size different between the many 190-210in US models and the many 190-210in German models... 190-210inch is the size of Audi A6,A8, BMW 5series, 7series, Mercedes E, R, S Class... cars you find in huge numbers at every corner in Germany.
the second most sold vehicle in Germany is the VW Passat...with 188in length it is larger as a Mustang... a car that is not smale at all.
3. my mistake
4. I am not talking about a smart hybrid (which does not exist for seeling!)
just look at my link from the smart fortwo Autobild test where they get the smart fortwo CDI to a average consuption of 3.3l/100km which are 85mpg!!!!!!
The numbers they use in the article are for the petrol powered versions...which get 4.7l and 4.9l/100km which is 60mpg and 57mpg in average!!!!!!!
http://www.smart.com/-snm-0135035552-1177938831-0000009228-0000000000-1178009329-enm-view/motoren/mpc-de_de_DE_EUR_urn:uuid:e0a1fb03-d93b-5af7-80ab-7c81f0ff63f2
the link to the smart homepage technical data for the CDI version... consuption in average 3.3l/100km that are 85mpg (US)
.....
have a nice day... the only one who lost all the creditbillity is the writer of that article..
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Tina 8:31AM (5/01/2007)
Yes quite a bit of pickup truck bashing. It must mean either A. Wifey said NO to the purchase or B. Their partners feel that a Subaru Baja is a much better choice of truck.
Now I sound just as ignorant as the rest of the haters of pickup trucks on this blog.
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