The 500 mile club

[trikkonceptz]

Well due to circumstances beyond my control I had to let the fuel in the Vibe run down until the little yellow light came on. Not so bad until I realized I was over 45 miles away from my normal fill station. So did I pull off at the next exit and fuel up, HELL NO, time to drive her until she's dry or leaves me stranded.

So I called the wife and warned her of the impending phone call to come to my rescue with a full gas can. But to my surprise the Vibe made it home and to the gas station.

508 miles ... the farthest I have ever driven that car on one tank of gas. As my fuel log shows it only took 12.2 gallons to fill from that point, leaving at least a gallon in the tank. So I proudly became a member of the 500 mile club, with ambitions to break in the 600 mile club in the future.

Perhaps the only member with an automatic .. LOL

[FunkSkunk]

Nice Job Trik!! I know how you feel, while trying to get an idea of the range my Metro had I pushed it past E one day to see if I could break the barrier and it passed it easily. You'll be surprised how misleading those factory gas gauges are!!

[Red]

Awesome, congrats!

[saunders1313]

Now is it 500 miles regardless of tank size? I haven't come close but I estimate I can do about 485 miles right now, but I also have a 16.6 gallon tank. Maybe a better way would be percent over EPA standards. Congrats though, hope you hit 600.

[Daox]

Very nice Trik. You've got me beat. My farthest tank was 492 in the Matrix.

[NeilBlanchard]

Hiya,

My best (so far) is 509.3 miles, in my xA; with it's ~11 gallons usable capacity. The second best tankful was 495.8 miles. This is the payoff for ecodriving!

[Doofus McFancypants]

I have my fuel log spreadsheet calculate "Max Range". I take the MPG of the tank at the last fillup - and extrapolate out to see what the full tank would have been. not that i would actually drive it that low - but if i DID - My last tank would have put me at about 540 Miles ( although i filled up at 400 miles with about 11.8 Gallons) extrapolate that to the 15.9 gallon tank and you get anout 540 miles to drive it dry.


Hey - i went to verify the tank size at Edmonds.com..
2001 Nissan Altima specs, auto safety at Edmunds

and i have been using the incorrect FE numbers. This site shows them as 20 / 28 city-highway. i have seen elseware ( i did not save the link) numbers of 23 / 32...

I better update the car info them - i am even doing better ( in a % over EPA) then i thought i was.

[Lazarus]

Nice job.

[metroschultz]

misspoke

Originally Posted by FunkSkunk

Nice Job Trik!! .... You'll be surprised how misleading those factory gas gauges are!!

To keep a small volume of fuel in the tank for the pump.
Usually around 2 gallons.
Think of your fuel pump as a small engine.
It needs lubrication and cooling.
The fuel in the tank provides these for it.
If you run your ICE without coolant or oil it would die rather quickly.
If you continuosly run your fuel pump beyond "E" it will die also.
No fuel means no lube or cooling for your pump.

I understand the desire to see how far you can go on one tank.
I just want you to be aware of the possibilities of draining every last drop of fuel from the vehicle.

YMMV,
Schultz

[eco_generator]

My Camry will go 500 miles, but it has a 18.5 Gal tank.

Most cars have trouble running on less than a gallon, so I'd only have to hit 29 mpg for those 17.5 gallons or so to get that distance.