Sportstick

It is not telling you how many gallons remain...it is making a calculation based on immediately prior driving conditions as to how many miles remain at the constant rate of consumption. In addition to unpredictable driving style variations which likely occur as you reach vapors, there is always some degree of "error" in the estimate. As the calculation requires using a smaller and smaller base, the actual potential variation in the "miles" estimate is greater. This will never be as accurate as a space shuttle altimeter counting down feet to the runway.

If all you wanted was a truly accurate fuel gauge which told you remaining gallons and you did your own conversion to remaining miles, then you would just have to engineer one more precisely than any ever developed for any car. Further, having been in the meetings with Engineering at a major car company prior to retirement, I also know no gauge is objectively correct. Each company has some degree of conservatism, building in different gauge needle behaviors based on their belief about human psychology. For example, some drop slowly in the first half, quickly in the second, to get your attention. But given the irregular shapes of fuel tanks and how low levels slosh around, the very bottom of the tank has not been an area where anyone has invested NASA-level resources, instead building in redundant warnings at somewhat higher fuel levels. So, the moral of the story is refill before 1/4 and only see the low level icon light up in a true emergency!

I am Jeff

+1

-Reno-

thanx for the help but i feel like you guys dont read my post and jump to your own conclusions about what im saying

i know what it tells me and i know exactly how it works, i know its a calculation of rpm/distance and it vary depends of

i never asked accurate counting, all im asking is why this stupid pic shows up when u have about 10? liters left

why cant it count JUST LIKE ALL OTHER CARS to 0 (and yes i know it can be off but it helps alot to estimate if u in critical situation)

thanx for replying though, i appreciate it

-Reno-

:o

encoder

Reno, I think you're right that a lot of people just rolled their eyes and treated you like an idiot.

Now, quite possibly they were accurate to do so. But giving you the benefit of the doubt, let me try my hand at it.

My trade-in was a Volvo S60. On that car, like your BMW, it would taper all the way down to "0 miles left." However... often it would say 0, and I'd still be driving.

The bottom line is that even with a full tank, that number is inaccurate. However, what's the harm in displaying "400 miles to empty" when you actually have 390? There is none. No harm.

But.. what is the harm in displaying "10 miles to empty" when in reality you'll run out of gas by the time I finish this sentence? That's bad. Very bad. And many people would probably be pissed. Think of a scenario where my wife is driving and it says "10 miles left" and she thinks... "I'll skip this exit and gas-up at the place by my house, it says I have 10 miles left" and then, on the interstate, the car dies and she's coasting to the shoulder of a busy interstate highway having just a moment ago passed an exit where she could've refueled. She was lulled into a false sense of security saying she has 10 miles left.

So rather than do what my Volvo, and certainly your bimmer does, and display an inaccurate guess, it just declines to make a guess.

There is no accuracy or precision in that "miles to go" estimate. It's a pure guess. A guess with no consequences -- say 50, 60, 70+ miles to go -- is fine. A guess with consequences is irresponsible.

-Reno-

yea i know what u mean but you are wrong about something

theres no way it will show u 10 mills left and u get stuck. no way

what can happen is that u can drive on a flat road with 10 mills left and can go drastically down if u go up hill or something like that

and still, it would help u better to estimate what u have left even if its inaccurate then showing u a pic of the pump, might as well put the captain obvious pic

and yea im aware of that most of the ppl dont know how this calculator works and that what they say its BS/inaccurate (like my dad lol, i still didnt manage to make him understand how it works)

encoder

Reno, my man, i was on your side.

But i don't think you get what it means to be inaccurate.

There certainly is a way for it to say 10 miles left and you get stuck. The way is: You never had 10 miles to begin with.

Have you ever watched it? It fluctuates by 10, 20, 30 miles, on a regular basis.

Do you realize that when you're accelerating from low gear, from a full stop, you're getting around 5 MPG? And when you're on a decline at 65 MPH you're getting 30, 40+ MPG? And the mechanism in the tank is inaccurate to begin with?

Now I give up like everybody else. If you're just playing dumb for the troll effect, then good for you, job well done. If you're seriously not able to comprehend this, wow...

-Reno-

yes i do, but do u realize that this calc keeps updating all the time?

once u got WOT, the calc will go DRASTICALLY down it will show u the "0" and u will get stuck somewhere around it

u dont agree with that?

RLE

What it does is take the fuel flow at that precise moment and the amount of usable fuel it thinks is remaining and come up with a range number.

One more thing, please stop spelling miles "mills" as it's distracting when I'm slogging through your posts. Mille grazie.

Breyton

Hey, Reno! What's up, man?

JimPap

Cramer....is that you?

For those who aren't familiar, in a Seinfeld episode, Cramer had to test drive a vehicle until it absolutely ran out of gas.

-Reno-

noka

+1

-Reno-

yea i guess :P

RLE

I was just thinking of that episode and was that a Volvo or a Skabe?

IGB

It was a Saab 900 http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheDealership.htm

victort

you do know that you can get off the car with the pump screen by clicking on the back arrow button on the steering wheel... and it'll go back to the estimated miles to empty screen

-Reno-

hmm i tried that but when i got back it was still the pic with the car and fuel pump

youre saying i can just scroll and see it keep counting again??

victort

yes. the picture comes up on startup. have to change it everytime you start up. i wouldn't recommend driving with that picture on too long though.

LILBENZ230

Anyone who says the car is incapable of making an estimation with a very low fuel level is incorrect. My 2005 car is before the pump picture was used and my car's fuel range will trickle to 0. I've driven 76,000 miles in 2.5 years with my 2005 C230 and I drive till 0 miles to E is displayed before filling up. I exploit the full range and as some of you think it is foolish to do so, I think it is equally foolish to feel that 1/4 of a tank is empty.

Below 20 miles remaining and the figure becomes more erratic. It might say 20 but then say 7. When it says 0, I fill. It's never sputtered or anything on me. It's the most accurate gauge and DTE of any car I've ever owned.

aprince2die4

does the display turn red once you've passed the "car and pump" stage? I thought I've read somewhere that the display turns red as it happens when you start to drive with a car door open.

encoder

Nobody said the car is "incapable of making an estimation."

Simply that, if you cannot give the driver reliable information, and there is the potential for downside like being stranded, it's best to not give them any info at all. False sense of security is bad.

maninblack

RENO . your next thread will be navigation is not 100% accurate or parking sensor not beeping early enough