Do our cars have a 2 gallon reserve once miles hit 0?

On all my past cars, once the info screen shows zero miles, their is actually ~2 gallons left. Is this true with our cars as well?

There is only ~1 gallon left in the tank when the "Miles to Empty" = 0.

FWIW, both times I have driven to '0' miles to 'E', I filled up and it took around 13.5 gallons. That would lead me to believe that the S550 has just over a gallon left.

The fuel gauge has read just under 1/8 tank both times.

Dumb question, why would you run it so low? Tough on the fuel pump since it is cooled by the fuel in the tank.

timd38 said:

Dumb question, why would you run it so low? Tough on the fuel pump since it is cooled by the fuel in the tank.

Click to expand...

Wasn't my plan, the fuel gauge still had almost 1/8th tank.

Each model vehicle is different. My S197 would be almost on 'E' when the low fuel light came on. Needless to say, when i get close to 'E', I know where a gas station is.

There is no set amount left in the tank when it hits 0. The miles left until empty is an ongoing calculation and dependent on driving habits which change. There have been people that ran out of gas before they hit 0. There have been many threads about it.

I can tell you immediately get gas at 0 or before. In my past Stangs you could pull a Kramer and go further not the S550.

Mine said it had 13 miles to E and I filled up and it took 14.5 gallons. I was a little caught off guard how close it was to E.

I fill up whenever I see an agreeable price at an agreeable gas station... not when I run out of gas. Going to have to pay for it anyway... often. :(

One of the best Seinfeld episodes ever was where Kramer wants to drive as far as he can before running out of gas, it was a classic.

Terry

One time I got in my car after a client meeting and it read 0 miles left but it said 3 miles when I parked it. I had to stop in to see another client about 1.5 miles away right after the first meeting so I figured I was well beyond safe holding off until afterwards to fill up.

Boy, was I wrong. I left my second client's place and began driving to the closest gas station which was no more than 2 miles away. Ran out of gas while sitting in line at a stop light, when I was only about 20 yards away from the entrance of the damn gas station. I got out and started pushing in 95 degree heat while wearing business attire. Luckily, the person behind me was kind enough to help.

Haven't trusted my car past 0 miles since.

I think it's obvious that if you are driving in a high mileage situation like an interstate cruise that the miles to empty would be high based upon the cruising average. So if you run down to below 5 miles to empty and then start driving city streets you would not have much gas left. But it will take a while for the average to catch up and meanwhile you run out of gas. Or is my thinking off?

I think there is a good amount of variance between cars. My 15 would run out of gas when it said 0 to empty, my 16 I've gone 5 miles past 0 and it was ok. When I filled up my 16 it indicated to me that it still had about another .5 gallon left in it.

When I took mine for a test drive, the salesman said "the gas indicator says 0 miles. When these cars say 0, they mean it. Let's go get gas". So I got a full tank with my purchase.

I don't think mine has said anything under 25 or so. A buddy of mine's F150 went to 0 and he took it another 6-7 miles without running out. Like someone above said, it's an ongoing calculation,

I guess I have the freak gas tank, when mine hits 1/4 I put in 13.5 gallons. Maybe I have a gauge problem? My speed reads 4-5 mph high as well.