No harm done. Thanks for the apology.

Everyone enjoy your weekend! Me and the Mini (and the girlfriend) are heading to vermont for brew fest at Mount Snow!

 

Have a great trip and don't run out of gas!

 

Glad you got this fixed. I knew it was a problem with the car and not your fault like others were saying!

 

I love this site. It's got real people on it.

 

I would question if something is out of calibration on the fuel gauge sending unit. My '09 MCS convertible will show 2 clicks but I still have about 40 miles of intown driving.

 

Made it to vermont without running out of gas (so far only 260ish miles).

TIME FOR BEER!

 

I refuel at 2 bars left and still have 60 miles left to go according to the computer and have 250-320 miles on the tank

 

You people scare me. I read this thread today and filled up my '09 Cooper with 3 bars left...and (supposedly) 128 miles to go. I just got it on 8/9, so I'm not sure how accurate these gauges are. When I filled it up (yes, first click of the pump, I stopped), restarted, it says 540 miles.

We are getting ready to drive our Mini from San Antonio to Colorado (900 or so miles). There is NO WAY I'll trust the gauges now.

I haven't had any problems with it, but read this thread, got to three bars and decided not to take a chance on my RT tomorrow (only 28 miles).

Computer says I'm getting 30.2 MPG.

I'll figure it out...but never go below 3 bars!

 

It depends on the car. I've ran mine down to 1 red bar many times and a couple of times where distance to empty was just "-- miles". I know I was lucky not to run out and risk damaging the already poorly designed fuel pump. However, I am confident with my car down to 1 bar.

 

Thanks, 009 (love your moniker). We'll be driving through West Texas, through Roswell, NM, into Durango, CO. I'd just like to know where 1/4 tank actually IS on this tank. NM is NOT a place to run out of gas!

Oh, and I haven't let my husband drive it yet. This is my car (but he won't let me get it "striped"). I told him it went faster that way and he didn't buy that!

I think I'm comfortable with 3 bars...and I do have something on the computer that ALWAYS says ---mpg...but then the computer says something else.

Good grief. First mini, I'm a computer nerd, and can't figure this out. I DO know that I got almost 400 miles out of one tank of gas (with 3 bars still left to go), but on this trip don't want to test it more.

I'm a chick with a new car, who loves it, and who knows not enough about it...but I'm trying!

The guys at work love me...a chick who's into RPMs and gas mileage. We're working on torque.

 

I wouldn't be running that low out in the desert either... too many movies made about that sort of thing. You can change the info displayed on the tach by pushing the button on the end of the turn signal stalk. You can show instant mpg, average mpg, distance to empty, etc. I keep mine on average mpg.

Oh, a couple of years ago I made the road trip out west in my Miata... when you get to Durango, you HAVE to go north on hwy 550 (The Million Dollar Hwy) at least up to Silverton or Ouray. That is one of the most beautiful roads with spectacular curves as shown below.

 

Have an 09 MC. The first three bars pretty much account for half a tank. I routinely get 425-450m when the third bar exits and the remaining petals turn red. That equates to about 38mpg. But after three bars from full, I'm reading around 225 or so.

 

We did the million dollar highway several years ago & it was quite an experience. We go to Durango every September to visit my father in law. You're right, though, the curves are SPECTACULAR, although I'll admit to being nervous!

 

I usualy get to 3 bars when on a trip and then fill up at the next Shell or Chevron. Ain't no way I'm taking a chance on running out of gas and have the "AAA" guy laughing because I'm driving a Mini Cooper.

 

Someone once said:
Run out of gas once, shame on MINI.
Run out of Gas again, shame on you.

Having had many motorcycles, I am used to filling up by the trip odometer. I know what the least number of miles I can get on my MINI regardless of driving conditions and I try not to go beyond that, hence I have never run out. However I have, several times, put more gas in the tank than the manual says it will hold.

The funny thing about the gas gauge is that each "petal/candy corn/carrot" is worth less than the one before it. And if you think the gas gauge is silly, you should try an R57 with its Openometer.

 

Great post. I will be a bit more careful in the future. I have run mine to zero
hunting for a gas station once. Was glad it had a reserve like all cars should.
It does tend to vary a lot at the end based on your driving. I tend to wait to
fill so I like to know how each of my cars gauges work. I had Ford leave me at the side of the road with 15 miles still showing on the DTE. Was with the wife once in my Old 95' Firehhawk. She tells the story I ran out of gas. If you didn't push we didnt run out. It was sputtering but we bad it the pump. I employeed the old NASCAR trick of sawing the wheel hard to splash the the remaining in the tank into the pick up. It worked! She is a fill it up at half tank kinda gal. Me I fill when on fumes. I guess I have had to many rental car day where you by the tank and they tell you to bring it back empty. I take it to heart. Ran out idling at check in once. I win!!!!!!! You said bring back empty.

 

I don't know about any issue, but driving until the car dies or even when it's relatively low on gas is not very good. This means your fuel filter gets clogged up with all the sediments sitting at the bottom of the tank. Not healthy for the filter, pump, and the injectors.

 

"They all do that," said the dealership.

 

This calls for a very old comment that seems appropriate: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

The first time I filled up my gas tank I learned how not to rely on it too much. I filled the tank up and drove several days what seemed like at least 100 miles and the fuel gauge was still showing a full tank of gas. It's not too difficult to know when to and when not to rely on something.