Just wondering if anyone else had gotten their gas tank down this far. It happened to me when I was only about a mile from the gas station, so I wasn't too worried... Then when I filled it up, it only took 15.1 gallons! So that means I had a full 2 gallons left, or around 50 miles of highway driving. I know it's good to err on the side of caution, but that just seems ridiculous to me... So now I don't take the "Approx. Range" display seriously at all.

If you have gotten this low, how much gas did you need to fill up the tank?

 

wow interesting!! u coulda went even more =)

 

I just filled up this morning on the way to work and it was already at 0 miles left by the time I got on the highway. Filled it up to 15.347G @ 3.139G so there is some wiggle room in that range indictor.

 

Manufacturers always err on the side of caution with these things. I've never owned a car that I couldn't take pretty far below the 'E' mark on the gas gauge, and the avg range meter on the Lexus is no different (nor did I expect it to be). I'm fine with there being a built in cushion.

 

Maybe they are also taking into account sediment at the bottom of the tank to keep it from getting sucked up into the fuel system?

 

lol..you shoulda done like kramer in that episode of seinfeld
and seen how far you could go before running out of gas

 

I run them past the 0 mark all the time when we get them.

but from what I have been learning about fuel pumps are that gasoline is a lubricant for the fuel pump. So if you run them low you run the substancial risk of burning it out..

-Josh

 

haha i remember that episode...I test drove a civic hybrid that was on E... i didn't know why the sales guy didn't want to fill her up because right as the other people got out of the car from their test drive i just got in... we were already pushing it because it was on E.. but the sales guy didn't want to let me take it on the freeway haha

But i need to pay more attention to the fuel gauge... on my 98 civic i get about 275.. 290if i really push it to the very end on a full tank... but on IS i don't need to pump as often and i don't want to get careless

 

I found out the hard way (twice - I'm a slow learner ) that my former Audi A4 Cab really meant zero at 0. It hit it and then stopped within feet. The first time I figured I would have wiggle room - nope. The 2nd time I was in the turn lane when it went to 0 and ran out. I don't know if it was all Audis or just my model.

 

Mines displayed 0 Mi left and I kept going for about another 33 Mi Filled up 15.9 gal afterwards, I believe our tanks holds 17.1 gal. So I can safely say that you can go about another 50 Mi after the Range Approx. displays 0 Mi left.

 

We're a little spoiled in more urban areas, where there are usually gas stations at three of the four corners of a major intersection.

In more rural areas, you'll be lucky to find a couple of gas station within a ten mile range, so I guess this function is more appropriate for such owners.

 

I had a consistent experience with mine, was down to "5 miles to empty" and it only took in 15.5 gallons.

 

I actually would prefer the Audi way - 0 means 0! It would be very un-German to do it any other way...

But in general, I prefer it when companies don't design their products assuming that I'm a moron. Thanks for helping me not to run out of gas, but I'm a grown-up now, and I think I can handle that on my own.

It seems like you can EASILY assume 30+ miles of highway travel beyond the "0" mark before you even think about running out of gas. This is actually sort of annoying, because once you pass 0, you have no indicator of how close to empty you really are. So whether you have 2 gallons left or 0.2, it will say the same thing...

 

The mechanism in the tank (I believe a floater) is notoriously inaccurate after a certain point in many cars. Conversely, when you fully fill up, it also takes some time for it to actually start showing and after many miles, actually start dropping as its shown on the needle.

How hard do you drive your vehicle though? What's your avg. mpg (and if you have it, for that specific tank)?

 

It was pretty high for this tank because I had done almost all highway driving. I think the overall average is around 23 and for this tank was around 25. 90% of all my driving since I got the car has been on highways.