Although the Smart fortwo’s 52 kW engine is hardly regarded as a fuel-slugging glutton that belches out copious amounts of CO2, that hasn’t stopped Smart Gmbh from bolting a hybrid system with start-stop technology to it.
By Gareth Dean
Dubbed mhd (micro hybrid drive), this system, along with automatic start-stop, becomes a standard fitment to the 52 kW fortwo Pure from this month. Fuel savings of between 8 percent on average, and up to 20 percent in traffic, are possible with this system in place.
The mhd setup is a proven system that has been in use in Europe since 2007. As well as returning fuel consumption as low as 4,3-litres per 100 km, the 53 kW engine fitted with mhd and start-stop pushes CO2 emissions down from 112- to 103g/km.
The automatic start-stop system has been tuned to the fortwo’s automated manual transmission to shut down the engine as soon as the driver brakes and the vehicle’s speed falls below 8 km/h – for example when approaching traffic lights. As soon as the driver lifts their foot off the brake pedal, the engine starts again.
Standard specifications for the fortwo Pure model remain unchanged with such features as front airbags, seatbelts with belt-force limiters, ESP, and ABS with brake assist.
Pricing changes to R149 000 for the 52 kW fortwo Pure mhd.
