FOURTEENTH FILL-UP IN THE SMART FORTWO = 40.9 MPG

Beautiful early autumn-like temperatures were commonplace in Halifax this late in the season over the last two weeks. This meant an awful lot of walking and relatively little driving in the '09 smart car. Over the course of 232.6 kilometres (144.5 miles) the smart fortwo used 6.9 litres of premium gasoline for every 100km of driving. 6.9L/100km translates to 34 mpg or 40.9 miles on each Imperial gallon. While not up to the smart's rating of 5.9L/100km, this is an improvement on the smart fortwo's thirteenth fill-up and about what I'd expect to be seeing if the temperatures were normal for November.

Cooler nights meant some 0 mpg moments as idling was necessary for warmth and defogging while waiting outside an office in Hydrostone. And the smart's photo session at the old West End Mall's parking garage involved a whole lot of ignition and stop-start-reposition-back-again-move-forward driving, too. The highway wasn't touched, the air-con never came on, and tire pressures remained normal. I don't expect to see economy much better on the fifteenth or sixteenth fill-up but after that a slight improvement with some anticipated highway driving should be anticipated.

THIRTEENTH FILL-UP IN THE SMART FORTWO: NOT GOOD; BUT NOT GUZZLESOME

Our smart fortwo was used sparingly these last two weeks as S had the H1N1 virus and struggled with that for a week. To add further insult to our smart (which even suffered a change in parking spot down in the garage), T was given a 2010 Ford Taurus to use for a little while, and in the end, our '09 fortwo drove just 191.9 kilometres (119 miles).

In that time period our smart achieved its third-worst fuel economy stint of its four-month lifespan. 7.26L/100km equals just 32.4 miles per U.S. gallon, 38.9 miles to the Imperial gallon. This was 100% city driving in a city that's full of construction zones. Plus the smart was being used on a lot of short trips, not the best for heating up to the ideal operating temperature. Many of the drives were of the 5km-or-less variety.

In other words, unlike the smart's tenth fill-up, we'll forgive the little car this time 'round. After watching the gas gauge tumble towards empty on the '10 Taurus which wouldn't be able to pull of in the best of circumstances; at the best operating temperature; with an extremely light-foot on a flat highway. So that's comforting.

TWELFTH FILL-UP IN THE SMART FORTWO: BETTER THAN AVERAGE

Although not quite up to the last fill-up's standards, the last 378.5 kilometres only required 6 litres of premium gasoline for every 100 kilometres driven. This equals 39.2 miles per U.S. gallon or 47.1 miles per Imperial gallon. Why the slight decrease from the 5.67L/100km written about last time?

Easy: much of the last ten days have been spent in stop-and-go situations, not necessarily city - although there was plenty of that, too - but in rural areas where photography was the mission. Dirt roads were traversed many times. We even searched for a store, any kind of store carrying batteries please, for 25 or 30 kilometres on the Glooscap Trail in Nova Scotia. We weren't far from Windsor, but apparently far enough.

In fact, a new squeak was discovered but hasn't made a peep since we returned to smoother city roads. Given the state of Halifax's roads - not anywhere near smooth - the squeak needs to be rather shaken and stirred in order to find its voice.

Compensating for the stop-and-go driving was simple. East Hants, Nova Scotia has plenty of twisty roads on which a smooth driver can carry speed through corners negating the need for powering out. It's interesting to note that our 2009 smart fortwo pure exceeded the EPA's predictions for city fuel economy this fill-up to the tune of 6.2 miles per gallon, came with 1.8 mpg of the EPA's highway rating, and surpassed the combined rating of 36 mpg, also. As for Natural Resources Canada's less realistic ratings, the smart car was just 0.1L/100km off NRCAN's city rating but still hasn't come close to the 4.8L/100km highway figure.