I know this is a question that will be all across the board for different vehicles, but we recently got our first hybrid. I'm at 211 miles now and the little indicator arrow shows the tank to be still slightly above the 3/4s of a tank mark. Are these little arrows reliable on most cars?

I ask because it looks like it will be quite some time before I'm able to go through a whole tank of gas, and I'm trying hard to get an indication of actual MPG useage. (I've heard there is an electronic feature for this, but I haven't learned how to use it yet... and even then without real world comparsion I won't trust the electronic feature until i can compare it with what we actually put into the car and then see on our odometer.)

Are the people here finding their tank gauges are accurate?

 

All cars are "top weighted" in regard to the fuel gauge. That (having 211 miles by 3/4 tank) does not mean that you are going to get 844 miles on your tank !!!

This stems from a practice in the "old days" when car companies intentionally mis-calibrated the fuel tank gauge in new cars so that new car buyers would see their cars go a LONG WAY on that first half tank of fuel and be proud of what great gas mileage they got.

My ex-wife was so fooled by this that she ACTUALLY BELIEVED that cars got better gas mileage when the tank was full; her (false) logic being "if I get 350 miles when the gauge sits at half-tank and then only 600 miles in that tank, then I got 350 miles with the "top half" of gas and only 250 miles with the "bottom half," so my car got better gas mileage in the top half of the tank." It took me a long time to convince her that her thinking was faulty.

My 2007 TCH fuel consumption display is accurate to the gallons pumped/miles in the tank to within about 1.6 MPG, which is pretty close.

As far as "guessing" how many more miles to empty, here's how I do it with the non-NAV version of the car:

1. When the "orange gas tank" comes on, I have about three gallons left in the tank.

I figure the worst I can possibly get is about 3 MPG below what the tank average number shows me. Multiply 3 by that number, and that's how many more miles I figure I can drive before using 17 gallons.

Has yet to fail me......D

 

Marianne — My experiments show that the TCH's fuel gauge is pretty linear over the top 3/4 of its range. Each minor "tick" mark represents about 3.5 L (~0.9 galUS). So, if you approximate each tick mark by 1 gal you'll be reasonably close. In warm weather, I find that I get about 46 km (~29 mi) per tick mark. But, don't forget that when filled the gauge goes ~1 tick (gas pump dependent) above "full," and when it reads 'E' you still have quite a bit of fuel left.

Stan

 

Thanks guys. I'm at 250 miles on my first tank... and so far I'm still hovering at about the 3/4s mark. I'm waiting to see if lars is right and the floor drops out from beneath me fast.

I'm going to be happy as a clam if I end up getting 36 mpg, but it will be even more exciting if I get closer to the advertisied 41 mpg city. Unfortunatley, it's a couple more weeks of driving before we really get to know.

 

The TCH gauge is set to keep around 2 to 3 gallons in reserve. My guestimate is the low fuel light = 3 gallons, and Empty = 2.5 gallons left in the tank. I would say for normal driving that 1/2 tank is pretty darn close to half a tank, leaving close to 2 gallons in reserve.

I often see 50 @ Full, 180 @ 3/4, 340 @ 1/2, 540 @ 3/4 and 640 @ Empty. The low fuel light usually comes on about 600 miles. I usually fillup around 660 to 680 miles ( 20 to 40 miles past E - filling up with around 15 gallons ) Keep in mind I typically get around 44 mpg with my TCH. Your mileage may vary

I find the MFD displayed Tank Average to be about 1 to 2 mpg higher than my actual calculated mileage when I fill up.