Sounds poorly designed to me. My Jeep has an accurate reading for Miles To Empty as well as the gas gage.

The excuse for the odd shaped gas tank is lame. While the fuel tank float is electromechanical I can almost bet that the signals it's generating is converted by the "brain" for display. So some where during the conversion process some programmer programmed the wrong thing into the chip?

Why motorists are getting stranded because of a gas gage that is displaying inaccurate information is beyond me. They sure got the folding mirrors to work properly. Is an accurate gas gage too much to ask for in this day and age ?!

 

Same here, after the last earthquake and being without power for over 24 hours I never let my gas tank go below half. I fill up once a week whether I need it or not, that way if gas prices suddenly shoot up because something happens somewhere, I won't have to pay as much to fill up!

 

The excuse for an odd shaped gas tank is not lame. I used a conical shape for example. No doubt your Jeep has an almost square tank. Most cars' tanks are not due to the design of the car. Crawl under a few and have a look. But then again I guess you're perfect and don't need to.

 

I also have a gas gauge problem, every time I fill it up it costs me 30 some bucks!

 

From page 85 of the PDF version of the manual:

 

i pay upwards of $40 ..... and we have two minis we have to fuel up.

 

Fill up more often.

 

Like I said, the Nissan manual says the opposite. There is no reason to run a tank dry. You're not gaining anything by not filling up once you hit 1/4 tank.

Obviously MIni recommends this for a reason. Not that everything in the manual is 100% accurate.

 

i usually fill up at the 3rd or 2nd (red) mark. Ive gone down as far as 1 where it told me i had 26 miles left. Never will i do that again even though i never ran out of gas.

I can get about 400 miles worth of orange marks, then i fill up.

 

if you read the 2008 manual for the MC/MCS it states that nothing is guaranteed once the range on the OBC reads 30 miles or less. This is due to the fact that it is just making an estimate and it's hard to be right on.

 

I think the OBC is just for entertainment.
The average mpg is never correct. I calculate the real mpg when I fill the tank and the OBC is always several mpg higher than reality. The average speed is never correct. An as for the estimated miles per tank, it always starts high and then closes to the distance actually traveled as the tank empties...
(Kinda like weather men who are never right 3 days out, but always correct on the current weather.)
But the gauge, while not linear in its response, is at least repeatable. I always refill with 3 bars left. ~11 gallons.

 

~$40 here as well. And I generally have to fill up once a week. Not enjoyable!!! Pretty sure it beats the heck out of the other cars that were on my short list when I purchased the MINI though (MS3, GTI, GLI, G35 and Pathfinder - quite the mix I know, I'm indecisive ).

Very interesting about the gas gauge falling slowly at first then dropping very rapidly. I noticed this as well, but thought it was just me...

 

No need to get your panties in a bunch. My attack was not centered around you but at the engineers who couldn't figure out how to make a gas gage work properly. If that was your theory, then I apologize as I though you were stating something you heard from Mini. And no, I'm far from perfect

The amount of fuel, it's level, anywhere inside a gas tank can easily be measured. I don't understand why this is even an issue. I guess I'm irked because I too was left roadside because I didn't have enough fuel. But, in my situation, I didn't listen to the gage and and tried to make it to the "next" gas station. That was my fault.

 

It's been noted in past threads that the biggest risk of damage is to the fuel pump, since they rely on the gasoline for cooling and lubrication. I'd guess that fuel pump wear is a lot less likely with the fuse pulled

 

That is key with any submerged pump.