15 year old car here (Modified 2002 Chevy Cavalier). I fill once it drops to 1/4. at 110K on the car, I don’t really want to play games with it. I already dropped it below 1/4 one single time with an ailing fuel pump(OEM, needed replacement anyway) and thats what did it in. Flushed the tank to get rid of sediment too, but I still get wary. I only fill up once a week and when I am in a different county (outside of Chicago) because the gas savings are enormous. Sometimes over $0.50/gal.
I pay about $2.15 per gallon usually. for a 14.1 gallon tank. Get on average about 26MPG mixed driving. (My fuel efficiency is better than factory for the car, not by much, but I still don’t know how).
I generally follow the Quarter Tank Rule. I don’t have a range calculator but I do trust the gas gauge.
The Grapist, is that you?
Nope. I don’t like getting below 1/4 tank.
I live mountain rural and we have very long and very snowy winters.
Never know what might come up.
During the winter I try to keep it at 1/4 tank, but the rest of the time I let it get down to one “square” on the gas gauge:
the light is on, and the miles remaining is at about 50. I’ve never been below a gallon I don’t think.
I fill up at two bars left (Yaris), 1/4 tank (Ranger), or 70-50 miles left (Hyundai). I have a friend with a very well preserved mid 90s Suburban. He always fills up at the 3/4 full mark. The thing has a 42 gallon tank (yeah, really!) so he has to have some seriously old gas in there, especially considering the thing probably doesn’t get driven 100 mi/month.
Nope, I fill up at a half-tank, too. I don’t think I’ve been at less than a quarter tank in over 10 years.
I don’t understand this thread at all!
My car is a hybrid and so the warning comes on at the last “tic” on the meter but that’s still ~60 estimated miles of travel left. The manual had dire warnings of letting it run dry which makes sense since then it’ll be all on the electrical system which isn’t intended to drive the car purely on its own. The lowest I’ve gone with it was 20 miles remaining.
No.
That’s okay, I un-graped you anyway.
Me? Okay, another pilot weighing in. Well, student pilot.
I fly sailplanes and have the pleasure of being blissfully unconcerned about gassing up.
2013 Toyota Tacoma … when the low-on-gas warning light comes on, I better be close to a gas station, about 20 miles is all … now when my 1998 Nissan’s dash completely gave out, it was a total crap shoot, never knew how much gas I had on-board …
Altitude on the other hand …
To me, that is a reason for filling up sooner. After it gets down to 1/4 tank, I’ll start thinking about getting gas. Then when I happen to drive by a gas station when I’m not in a rush to get somewhere, I’d fill up. If I wait till much later, I may end up going out of my way to get gas, or having to stop when I’m busy (e.g. in the morning).
Though with my new car, I just plug in the charging cable every time I get home…