Amnesiac_06

The owner's manual says that the xA has an 11.9 gallon fuel tank. Assuming a city mileage of 31 MPG, that gives a range of 369 miles.

However, the fuel gauge does not take account for the whole 11.9 gallons. I've tried driving as much as possible before filling up with the gauge on E to find out my actual mileage, but it scares my fiancee every time.

How many gallons of gas does the gauge really measure? And what is the reservoir amount of the gas tank that lets you still drive with the needle on E?

I've also read about different gas companies having different chemical formulas and refining processes for their gasoline. Who's had the best mileage with which gas?

Thanks.

Kremtok

Check www.toptiergas.com for some information on fuel companies reccommended by Toyota and other auto manufacturers. I'm not sure if this is all propaganda or not, but it's interesting just the same. Here's a list of their reccommended fuel companies:

QuikTrip
Chevron
Conoco
Phillips
76
Shell
Entec Stations
MFA Oil Company
Kwik Trip/Kwik Star
The Somerset Refinery, Inc.

lalagimp

Whenever the gas light comes on , you still have roughly 2 gallons left to the tank= apprx. 60 miles.

My gas light used to come on all the time at 312, so what is this nitpick about?

It's better to have that cushion there than to know that when you're on E, you're screwed, and it's not good for the car to let the tank go dry anyway.

jct

i drove about 300 miles once on a tank of gas in city driving that came too about 34mpg

CoffeeBean

hmmm..correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't (300/11.9) equate out to 25.2 mpg???

how did you figure 34 mpg???

lalagimp

WHEN THE TANK IS ON 'E' YOU STILL HAVE ROUGHLY TWO GALLONS LEFT. I CANNOT CALCULATE MILEAGE BASED ON TOTAL TANK VOLUME AND THE MILES YOU SEE ON YOUR TRIP ODOMETER.

You people hurt my head.

OP is wondering why the gas gauge is misleading him. It's not. Your tank isn't empty when it says E. It's for your safety and the vehicle's safety that it does that. If you want to calculate your mileage you go by what you filled your tank with (gasoline used to drive those miles) vs. your mileage driven. He was saying that the 11.9 should give you 36*- to drive on, then why do you have to fill up at around 300?

*RIPS HAIR OUT*

This is a really nitpicky thread to have even started.

Amnesiac_06

Sorry for the nitpicky-ness...I was just really curious and needed to know this...espcially since I bought the xA for the fuel economy and the fact that I can park it anywhere.

I've driven trucks and vans my entire life...from diesel pickups to minivans. My last car was a '96 Dodge Caravan and it was horrible with the mileage (3.3L V6 that got 12-15 MPG city and about 20-25 MPG highway, depending on the weather and how loaded the car was).

The 31c/38h MPG really got my attention, but I just kept wondering why I had to fill up every 310 - 330 miles. It just wasn't adding up with the mileage.

My apologies.

knuckleDragger

Next time you fill your tank, reset the trip meter. Then, the NEXT time you fill your tank, record the number of gallons that you put in. Divide the miles on the trip meter at the second fill up by the amount of gallons you put into the car.

BAM! ..... actual mileage.

lalagimp

It's a math thing:tank capacity vs actual gallons used=potential mileage vs actual mileage
It sounded like you weren't happy with your car unless it was actually running out of gas on E
Your gas mileage is actually right in the estimates.

The other guy that called you out on possible mileage of the tank was what pushed me.

CoffeeBean

ahem, er yes, but if you "once again", do the math; you find that multiplying 11.9 by your mysterious number of 36* leaves you with 428.4 miles traveled...

thus in some far off galaxy you and others may have construed, you have arrived at YOUR assumption that a normal "tank" of gas equates out to around 300 miles with 60 miles left over to get you to the next station, when in actuality, 428.4 taken away from your 300 leaves you with 128.4 miles left to travel...i myself have not yet had enough fortitude to travel an additional 128 miles in order to prove the worthiness of my gas tank, but I can safely say that the stock XA does not get 36 miles to the gallon....impossible...

lalagimp

That was three hundred sixty-* miles to drive on.
Which you don't, because there is always nearly a 2 gallon reserve on the tank when your low fuel light comes one.

And I have gotten 36+ on the highway.

You're fluffing in a bunch of numbers that has nothing to do with this.
If you fill up 10 gallons, and drove 312 miles it's almost 32mpg.
Everyone's mileage floats depending on your driving. It's not

Quote:

Originally Posted by CoffeeBean

hmmm..correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't (300/11.9) equate out to 25.2 mpg???

how did you figure 34 mpg???

It's 300/10 that you get to drive. - AND NO ONE EVER SAID 34 MPG

jct

no i still had gas left in the tank when i fueled back up and no my gas light did not come on

i_think_therefore_scion

All this math is making my head hurt. Make it stop!

spectra_blue

I recently moved from NE Arkansas to NE Ohio, which my trip was a little over 750 miles. I filled up twice, using only 22 gallons of gas in my xA. My overall average 750/22 was 34 MPG. That was between a little stop and go running, and doing 80 MPH on the interstates. I believe getting anywheres above 36 is VERY do-able. Also, I drive a manual, so that helped out a little more.

ack154

iTrader: (7)

This isn't a Math class... let's keep on topic and keep it civil. Or else the dancing lock makes an appearance... and I KNOW you don't want that!

lalagimp

I love that dancing lock. I will admit that I was being a pain and assuming that everyone always knows as much about their vehicles as possible... and apparently OP was trying to learn.

<--- evil*

FASTER345

Hey geniuses, after getting a full tank, drive with a emergency one-gallon tank in your trunk (they're available everywhere) and just go 'til your car dies. Dump that emergency gallon in, drive to a station, buy a full tank, check your odometer then add that one extra gallon to your full tank total and do the math. There's your precious ACTUAL range, mileage, fuel tank size, etc. Cheers.

lalagimp

Dear Genius:

You go drive your new car until it dies.

Cheers.

drt1120

last week I drive my xa 405 miles on a tank and when I filled it up it took 11.4 gallons
so it was still running fine on 1/2 a gallon in the tank. The low fuel light came on at 360 miles. Don't plan to repeat that again.

CoffeeBean

Thank you for actually answering my original question before all the "numbers" started flying...

It seems "lalagimp" needs to read the context of the questions asked as well as the flow of the conversation before jumping in and verbally assaulting others just because the math started to intimidate her...