Ford Fiesta mileage has fallen off a cliff

mgfvvc

jimjames said:

BOWFER said:

Grumpy_chap said:

I think the car manufacturers build the "zero" point in with some buffer, so if you get stranded with no fuel, it is not their fault.  The fuel gauge and the "miles remaining" digital readout are useful guide but no more.

Electric car GOMs (guessometers) verge on the cautious in a similar way, they all seem able to do surprising distances with the range saying zero.

I thought that. I then tried it in my Audi and 0 range was remarkably accurate when I ran out of fuel!

You're very dependent on the calibration. I've driven most of my recent cars past the zero mark and been OK, but many years ago my wife's Volvo 480 ran out of fuel with the guessometer telling her she had 40 miles range left.

born_again

What ever happened to fuel guages?

KimJongUn88

born_again said:

What ever happened to fuel guages?

They were replaced by fuel gauges.

prowla

Miles remaining is an estimate which is based on the recent trips; if you do motorways journeys it will be long, but if you do lots of short start/stop journeys it will be short.

I've had it where I've done short trips and it's said one thing and then gone on a motorway it's barely changed over a long distance.

SteveJW

The old Rover P6 range and others had a reserve control on the dash

pull the control out and you got a few more miles

Saved me a walk a few times

cattom

get a peugeot 2008 with the new hdi engine. over 600 miles on one tank. low emissions so zero road tax. no brainer.

peter_the_piper

We never let the tank go below 1/4 to stop the chance of the carburettor sucking up crap from the tank, especially onan older car.

Jaybee_16

I used to have a habit of filling the petrol tank to the brim but many years ago I owned an old Vauxhall and brimming the tank must have created a vacuum in the tank because my range on a tankful also reduced dramatically. Looked at the fuel tank and it had buckled.

peter3hg

peter_the_piper said:

We never let the tank go below 1/4 to stop the chance of the carburettor sucking up crap from the tank, especially onan older car.

This only applies to cars with a separate outlet from the tank for the reserve.
Basically anything built in the last 30+ years will have a single outlet at the bottom of the tank, so the pump is always sucking from there no matter the fuel level.

AdrianC

peter3hg said:

peter_the_piper said:

We never let the tank go below 1/4 to stop the chance of the carburettor sucking up crap from the tank, especially onan older car.

This only applies to cars with a separate outlet from the tank for the reserve.
Basically anything built in the last 30+ years will have a single outlet at the bottom of the tank, so the pump is always sucking from there no matter the fuel level.

A lot longer than that...

But anything built in the last 30 years won't have a carburettor... And there will be a fuel filter in the pipework.

Jaybee_16 said:

I used to have a habit of filling the petrol tank to the brim but many years ago I owned an old Vauxhall and brimming the tank must have created a vacuum in the tank because my range on a tankful also reduced dramatically. Looked at the fuel tank and it had buckled.

And that's why all tanks have breathers. Yes, breathers block... but brimming the tank won't case that.

cattom said:

get a peugeot 2008 with the new hdi engine. over 600 miles on one tank.

I used to have a 1990s large, turbo petrol, automatic car that would do 600 miles from a tank... at 30mpg.

It had a very big tank.

low emissions so zero road tax. no brainer.

It's four years since VED for new cars was emissions based.