Wednesday, 21 January 2009

How many miles left when the gauge shows empty?

How many times has this happened to you?

There you are driving along and you glance down at the petrol gauge. The fuel gauge says it is dangerously close to empty!

Now I really want to get to work before I am late and all the petrol stations seem to have queues a mile long (well almost!) so I decide to carry on and get petrol later on in the day.

Needless to say I did not remember and so it goes on. With every mile I take I am pushing my luck and promising myself that I will definately fill up at the next petrol station. I would guess I travelled another 15 miles or so until I have topped the tank up.
 
I have a Toyota RAV4 and in my user guide it says "when the petrol light comes on you should fill up soon." Well "soon" means different things to different people. Can anyone tell me how many more miles they have managed to drive when the petrol light comes on? My husband drives a peugeot and his manual says "when the petrol light comes on you can go approximately 30 more miles."


I suppose I could experiment and top up the petrol can that I keep for emergencies (usually empty I may add) and fill it up and drive in a quiet residential area until the petrol light shows red. Set the milometer and drive until the tank is on empty. Then I would know how far I can go before I run out completely. Simple idea, but probably not too good for the car engine.

 
I suppose the sensible thing to do would be to go the other way and never allow the tank to fall below three quarters empty because surely at the end of the day it really is so much hassle having to panic at the last minute and find somewhere to fill up!


I would like to hear how many miles you have managed to get after the red light has appeared!

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