After a week of ownership and 650+kms, I'm finally running out of the first tank of gas. The last red bar is on, and the distance-to-empty readout is some 80 km's left. Question is, how accurate is this reading? I'm not trying to pull a Cosmo Kramer , but I was wondering what the margin of safety is. On my other vehicles, it's a fairly generous cushion even after the reading says 0 km's left. (And yes, I know a dry tank can potentially damage the fuel pump...I'm just curious how much room there is.) Thanks.

 

650k's?! I haven't been able to get that much. I've only really been getting just over 500ks! But I was told that when it hits the red line .. it REALLY is empty and the needle doesn't really go any further South. You will run out of fuel at that point!

 

Yup, no kidding, surprised myself too. But I've been shifting before 4500rpm, Sport button off, and the daily commute is mostly highway.

 

There is some debate on this. However, I can testify that with 2 bars illuminated, I have filled to the 13 gallons (13.2, actually) that MINI claims is the capacity. My Scangauge computed a 3.1% fuel gauge error, which is within the typical range of OEM fule gauges. Thus, when the MINI says I have used 13.2 gallons, I have actually used 12.8.

 

Thanks for the info. I filled up this morning with an indicated 59km's (36.6 miles) to empty (one red bar left), with 48.985 liters, or 12.94 US gallons.

Does that sound about "right"?

 

There is a 8 liter reserve on a 50L tank, normaly you gauge light should come on with 42L remaining, then if you go further it will stop and run into the remaining liters.

 

Mine is R56 S with auto. I ran out of gas on the highway and the computer indicated fuel range 16 miles left. The highway was not completely flat and just a little bit up hill.

 

If I'm at 30 miles+- to empty, I am really looking hard for a gas station. Sound like I have 14 miles to find one.

 

On my 2004 MCS I have routinely run the range (i.e., miles to empty) past zero - the computer then displays a line of dashes. On several occasions it then returned to zero, even positive numbers, albeit single digits. And I've still never put more than 13.2 in the tank, usually about 12.8.

 

A friend ran out in her Cooper with 20 miles to go on the OBC.

I recently had mine down to 10miles , and it took 12.8gal

 

I put 13.5 gallons in a 13.2 gallon tank and the OBC said I had 20 miles left.

It was a 90 degree day. Apparently that makes a bigger difference than I thought.

 

In the owners manual it states that when the range states 35miles or less engine function cannot be guarenteed.

 

Had my OD at 30 miles left and ran fine except it would sputter at 4500 rpms! wont do that again!

 

07 MCS Auto, today I pumped gas w/ 16 miles left on the computer. I pumped 13.6 gallons......Averaging 29 MPG with mostly city driving and a range of approx 399 miles..

 

Funny you should bring this up... Yesterday I pushed Zoey to the limit.. I put 14.08 gallons in her, the OBC said I had 7 miles to go. Got 441 miles most on the freeway, with about 100 miles in town zipping around. I don't think I want to get that close again...

 

Too close for comfort...

 

Never ran out of gas but one time I ran out of window washer fluid during a nasty Oregon rainstorm. Pulled into a 7-11 convenience store and bought a bottle of Perrier water. That's all they had!

Damn, those windows never had it so good!

 

I also put in 13.5 gallons, wonder why the owner manual said the tank is 13.2

 

I can only speak for my experiences with 1st Gen MINIs, but I suspect the same situation carried through to the R56s.

13.2 gallons is indeed the size of the tank. However, you can put more in there because there is still space in the tube between the fuel door and the tank itself. Roughly 0.8 gallons, it seems.

I've filled up with 14 gallons (or close to it) many times. Of course, I only let it get that far because I was very close to the gas station... and you better believe I was driving like a grandma in the last 10-20 miles before I filled up!

 

My understanding is, generally speaking, overfilling is not good for the fuel pump, as the system needs to have a vacuum for optimum efficiency.

 

Part of it might have to do with ambient temps (why you don't want to fill up in the heat of the day). I'd like to see how much a tank will hold when temps drop below freezing. I'd bet no one will get 14 gallons then.

 

I just can't stand for the little red light thingys to be on, so I fill up right away.

 

Today I pumped in 14.16 gal. when the OBC said I had 19 miles (~1/2 gal.) til empty. Don't think I'll push it so far in the future, or I might wind up pushing!

 

Well I wont go into the details about why it happened but...

today I noticed that my gas needle was on the wrong side of the empty line... yikes... I flipped over the the OBC and it said distance - - - - ... I was freaking out... the closest gas station was about a mile... so me and God had a real detailed conversation for a few minutes and then I reached the pumps.. My MA said my tank was a 12.8 gallon tank... I pumped in 14.4 gallons and didnt even top it off.

 

In the U.S., you won't be able to tell a difference when the temperatures get cold. The pumps here aren't temperature-corrected, so if the pump says it dispensed one gallon, it dispensed one gallon, no matter what the temperature is.

Now, in cold weather, that one gallon of gas will weigh slightly more than one gallon in hot weather, so it will contain slightly more energy. This means that your fuel economy might increase a little bit, but the density of gasoline doesn't change much with temperature, so the difference might be hard to detect.

Here's an extreme example: The mass of gasoline that would fill a 13.2-gallon tank at 30F would occupy 13.97 gallons at 110F. That's about a 6-percent difference in the amount of energy that you can store in a given amount of space. Six percent might sound like a lot, but that's considering an 80-degree temperature difference. Most parts of the country don't have that big of a temperature spread over the course of a year, or if they do, it's only if you consider the very hottest few days compared to the very coldest few days. (In other words, even if you live someplace that sees both 110F days and 30F days, the temperature probably doesn't linger at the extremes for very long).