Just got back from my first fill up after I purchased it. I still had one bar left on the gauge and I put in 13.5 gallons how is that possible?? And that was after it just first cut off I didn't squeeze more in. The tank has to be bigger than the rating.

 

Maybe the gas pump needs recalibration.

 

I thought it was a 14.2 or so gallon tank?

 

Ya I hope they don't need recalibration that means they are over charging :-O

 

you filled up the filler tube leading to the tank. that is worth ~ a gallon

 

I just filled up my first tank and it too took 13.5-ish gallons with 2 red bars on the fuel guage left.

 

Take a gander at this thread

 

The tank sizes for MC and MCS is 13.2 US gallons (official data from MINI/BMW).

 

Looks like you were ripped off my friend. Either intentionally or not, that pump is calibrated incorrectly. Time to look for a new station and/or notify your state agency that monitors such things.

 

Going down to one bar is not a good idea in the MINI, IMO. The gauge is not that reliable, neither is the miles to empty readout. Some have reported running out of gas with it reading as much as 60 miles remaining.

The fuel pump in the MINI is cooled by the gas. Running it dry risks burning it out, or shortening its life.

 

What Robin said

Should you be so unfortunate as to run out of gas; have car level after adding gas and then cycle ignition on and off a dozen or so times, before attempting to start.

Each cycle runs your electric fuel pump for a second and you want to give it a chance to possibly bleed the air out of your fuel injection and gas lines before starting engine.
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My first fill was 13.4 with two petals and second was 13.7 with one petal.

I always stop on first auto-cutoff and am happy that the tank will hold more than OM promises,
My LeBaron's OM said 14 Gallons and I ran out after 12 Gallons, which is how I know the pain of running a Fuel Injected car dry.

 

Ok, what am I missing here when MINI states that the capacity is 13.2 gal? Are they wrong or are the gas station's pumps mis-calibrated? Do you guys putting more than 13.2 gals. at the pump suspect that there must be something funky going on?

 

The manual says that too, specifically what you say, that damage might occur to the fuel system if one runs out of fuel.

I suspect that since the manual warns drivers about this, if one suffers damage from running out of fuel, that the repairs would not be covered under warranty.

For many reasons I treat a half tank as empty and fill up when it gets to the half way mark. Additional reasons include gauge inaccuracy and running to empty is too risky.

 

May be gauge impreciseness, unless you top off to the brim, so to speak. Mine indicated about 3/4ths tank and I topped it off. Took almost six gallons.

It was a Chevron station on a major San Francisco street [Van Ness] so I don't think the issue was with pump calibration. Here in California the government is pretty strict on checking the pumps for accuracy.

Most fuel gauges on my cars have been imprecise. So I don't fault the MINI.

But my MINI's OBC [on board computer] seems pretty accurate on miles remaining ["range"]. It's way more accurate than my MINI fuel gauge.

Sidenote: I don't top off, I run the pump until it clicks to a stop. My understanding is that we are supposed to do that so not to harm the environment. I recall an ad campaign by government that said "don't top off" or something like that.

 

did some of you miss this ^^^??

no, the the tank is not 14 gallons even though you can put 14 gallons down the filler neck.

This also explains why the first bar lasts soo long.

 

When empty the Mini tank will hold 14.2 usg if it's filled until the pump stops, slightly more if you force it full to the neck. Makes sense if you read threads like this one. Only a few people have run their Mini dry.

 

Got it.

 

Yes I am very disappointed in the ability of the computer to read the tank right. I have had floaters in my day, but in the past 5-6 years of cars I have owned never had I had one so inaccurate before. Even Chevy fixed theirs by 1998. All of my other cars I know I can go 50-80 miles with the reading of 0 miles to go which is the reserve. It is not good to run one dry or low since it will suck up all the trash and deposits into the fuel pump but I have never had one go out. They like to warn you about everything but guess this will happen alot since the fuel gauge is so far off in the wrong direction. It is far worse not to follow the break in period than run out of gas. :-)

 

ecupip: the last 2 candycorns on the gas guage are red, they represent the reserve. Actually the Mini guage is a lot more accurate than your other cars because when it says you've got 50 miles left you've got (about) 50 miles left. You'll never go 50-80 miles when its says 0 to go. The "inaccuracy" of the guage that's criticised is that you can drive 125-150 miles before the first candycorn goes dim, then things accelerate from there. But at the end it's probably reasonably accurate.

 

what is so accurate about that? It sounds like the other cars you know are inaccurate by 50-80 miles. The MINI is much more accurate. If it says 0 miles you'd better be looking for a gas station.

 

I believe others were saying that they have ran out of gas with it saying 60 miles left to empty and that mine showed 2 corns left and took 13.4 gallons. A reserve should not be accounted for in a gas gauge that is why all other manufactures leave you with 0 miles left and you can still drive on the reserve hence the name reserve. I gas light should be telling you are low not running on reserves.

NOT arguing about it just all other manufactures last past E, but I should have known since most of the car is quirky and different from the rest why would the gas gauge be any different, HAHAHA

 

My only 'Road-Trip' (other than 'home from dealership') was to Miami for MTTS and after a lot of 'city-driving' my MINI 'miles-to-go' showed 166 miles with four 'corns' lit.

Being only 146 miles back home and 'Highway-Miles' at that, expected it would be plenty.

However, as we drove across one of the longest stretches of 'No-Gas' highway (Alligator Alley) in Florida, saw that the MINI's 'miles-to-go' was now showing less than the distance yet to go.

The MINI 'miles-to-go' should agree with the miles ticked off on your odometer, as long as your driving conditions (city/highway) remain constant.

But, be aware that it may not.