Agree- especially on long road trips, you don't often know what will happen ahead- We decided we had enough gas to make it to Elko NV, fill up, then make it home so pushed it below 1/4 tank. When we got there, the power was out all over town and there were 100s of vehicles waiting in line for gas and burgers for when the power came back.

The frustration and time waste is not worth it. 25 yrs ago I ran out of gas on my old ford truck once (gauge said about 1/8th). Vowed never to run out again.

 

I currently have a Focus. My new truck will be here the end of March, I hope. 13.5 gal tank in focus. At 0 to empty (which I have done once) it took 13 gallons. On a road trip once coming back from St. Paul to Detroit with a tail wind , traveling at 70 most of the way, I got 43 mpg. (usual hwy about 37) when I filled up, DTE was about 540. I knew that would be inaccurate as I was back to regular city driving. the next fillup reflected the usual DTE (which is about 420 in summer) So I would think in the new truck , switching back and forth between commuting to work, then towing on weekends, you can throw out DTE. fill up before tow, reset mpg, find out what kind of mileage your getting for each type of driving and go from there.

 

I use it how (I think) it was intended. When on a highway or interstate with exits spaced many miles apart, or when traveling in remote/rural areas, I watch the DTE. It gives me a quick and rough estimate so I can decide when to refuel and when to wait for the next exit or town.

 

filled up today. i was at 20 miles to empty. 36 gal tank only took 31.5 gals

 

Have the same size tank! When my GF ran it down to showing about 20 miles to empty it took 34.6 gallons!! Obviously these DTE readdings can vary by use and vehicle.

I personally do not need to run out with sub zero temps on a state road that has little traffic and NO CELL service for over 11 miles. Simply not worth it……….. at least not to me!

 

I rarely go below 100 KM's to empty - only happens if I'm on a long trip and haven't seen my fav gas station. Usually I fill up in the 200-300 KM's to empty range.

 

Me too...0 DTE and it ran out of gas pulling in to the gas station, car shut off as soon as I rolled to the pump, lucky.

 

So filled up yesterday. 10km to empty. Trip meter said I had used 117L of my 136L tank. So.....I should be able to put in 117L on fill up? Nope. 126L. So not only is the DTE wrong, but so is the fuel used on the trip meter???

 

I love the DTE function with the amount of highway driving I do. When I moved to Big Sky country, where gas can be forever and a day apart, my new boss and coworkers instilled in me to fill up at 1/2 tank and always drive on the top 1/2.

With a 1/3 of a tank in my Chevy 2500HD work truck (no DTE function), my dumb *** was in a hurry to get home one day. I decided to get on the interstate and fill up in the next town, which was further than I thought, over a small mountain pass. I started regretting my decision as I watched the fuel gauge quickly move towards E. I thought I was golden when I got off the exit only to run out of gas as I turned towards the station. Luckily I coasted to a stop only about 1/8mi from the station. I learned a valuable lesson that day!

When on the road in my FX4, I take full advantage of the DTE and have let it run down to <50mi when around town. When on the highway, I start looking for a station when it starts approaching 100mi left to E.

 

I've had mine down as low as 23KM.

When I filled up, there was about 8L left in the tank (put in 128L and my tank is 136L)

According to my average L/100KM that's about 100+KM left.

I don't know how often the system 'resets' the DTE calculation, I have a feeling had I driven a little longer, or even parked it and shut it off and started it again it would have shown more KM remaining.

Several times when it has said one number and I park it for the night, when I start it in the morning it shows a new calculation (usually increases)