[mgldan]

So, any sense yet of whether the dash is telling the truth about how much gas is left in the tank and how many miles you have left before empty?

I've only filled my tank once, when the onscreen reminder showed up saying I had <40 miles left. Only 1 of 10 bars was visible in the gas indicator on the right. But when I filled up, it came to just 8.3 gallons. Honda advertises it as a 10.6 gallon tank.

Wondering if anyone has tested this. I will certainly push it a little, but I don't know where to start.

 

[Mr. Natural]

According to the manual there should be 1.59 gallons left when the low fuel light comes on.

 

[mgldan]

So, if you believe that you're getting 50 MPG, you should have >75 miles left when the low fuel warning comes.

 

[Mikeinohio]

Doesn't Cost More to Keep the Tank Full

Why let your tank go below a quarter tank? When I was younger a wise man told me it doesn't cost any more to keep your tank full.

 

[mgldan]

Sometimes you have time to get gas, and sometimes you have to make time to get gas.

 

[ronnie]

So, any sense yet of whether the dash is telling the truth about how much gas is left in the tank and how many miles you have left before empty?

I've only filled my tank once, when the onscreen reminder showed up saying I had <40 miles left. Only 1 of 10 bars was visible in the gas indicator on the right. But when I filled up, it came to just 8.3 gallons. Honda advertises it as a 10.6 gallon tank.

Wondering if anyone has tested this. I will certainly push it a little, but I don't know where to start.

I noticed this same issue on my 2015 Fit and also on my new 2019 EX Insight. I think Honda sets the software to show fewer miles remaining than there actually are because if it were accurate, some people would push it to the limit and actually run out of gas. Honda doesn't want to be responsible for that. Now if you push it to the limit, you actually have a lot more than indicated.

 

[Mr. Natural]

I can remember having owned cars where you could run it until the needle was below the E. Not that I’d recommend that. And once upon the time I had to replace the sending unit in the tank of an 05 Infinity G35X because it wouldn’t go lower than 3/4 full. Since then I’ve had a healthy distrust of gas gauges.

 

[ddemetra]

Why let your tank go below a quarter tank? When I was younger a wise man told me it doesn't cost any more to keep your tank full.

Actually, if you fill your tank when 1/2 full vs empty, you will spend twice as many trips per year driving to get gas.
This is costs in time, gas, and wear on your car.

My grandfather told me your tank of gas has sediment, and impurities in to.
By keeping it over half full, the sediment sinks to the bottom half, and slowly accumulates.
By emptying your tank each fill-up, the impurities get burnt up at low concentrations, and won't be able to accumulate to cause problems.

My last Civic we drove for 22 year we did this, and never had any problems.

 

[mgldan]

Funny enough, I just received my first Maintenance Minder message this morning at 15% oil life left. Considering I'm at over 10,000 miles on the original oil/filter I'm impressed. I'm used to oil/filter changes at 5,000 or 7,500 miles.

Also, my gas mileage has started to dip a bit now that its' getting colder :-/

Hey, thanks for the photo! This shows that you drove 477 miles at 45.8 MPG, so that's 10.4 gallons of gas. Very close to the spec'd 10.6 gallon tank. You must have gotten a low fuel reminder well before you filled up, right? I've been trying to figure out how is really left when it reports low range. Mr. Natural pointed out on another thread that the manual says the low fuel notice appears at 1.59 gallons left in the tank.

 

[Mr. Natural]

Hey, thanks for the photo! This shows that you drove 477 miles at 45.8 MPG, so that's 10.4 gallons of gas. Very close to the spec'd 10.6 gallon tank. You must have gotten a low fuel reminder well before you filled up, right? I've been trying to figure out how is really left when it reports low range. Mr. Natural pointed out on another thread that the manual says the low fuel notice appears at 1.59 gallons left in the tank.

That’s assuming Trip A got reset at fill up, right? I don’t always reset my Trip A if I’m trying to track a longer trip. But I do have Trip B automatically resetting at fill up. I don’t think I’ve ever put more than nine gallons in mine.

 

[mgldan]

That’s assuming Trip A got reset at fill up, right? I don’t always reset my Trip A if I’m trying to track a longer trip. But I do have Trip B automatically resetting at fill up. I don’t think I’ve ever put more than nine gallons in mine.

Yeah, good point. My assumption is faulty. My personal record is 9.15 gallons to fill the tank.

 

[Insight'nAround]

Hey, thanks for the photo! This shows that you drove 477 miles at 45.8 MPG, so that's 10.4 gallons of gas. Very close to the spec'd 10.6 gallon tank. You must have gotten a low fuel reminder well before you filled up, right? I've been trying to figure out how is really left when it reports low range. Mr. Natural pointed out on another thread that the manual says the low fuel notice appears at 1.59 gallons left in the tank.

Yes, I got the low fuel reminder well before I filled up. That tank was a 10.15 gallon fill-up. I have my trip odometer set to reset at each refuel

 

[swbeck55]

Gas Tank Capacity

I drove a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid for 14 years and really enjoyed the long duration between fill-ups, getting around 530 miles per tank. That was with 11 1/2 gallons. I purchased my Insight Touring Model at the beginning of October 2018, and was a bit disappointed to see a range of 412 miles when new to 370 miles now, plus, I have never put in more than 8 1/2 gallons on every fill. My thought was that it was not calibrated correctly from the factory and that I actually had two more gallons in there which would get me another 88 miles past the low fuel light and estimated 17 miles remaining till empty. A dealer that I took it to said it was based on my driving style and would change accordingly and there is no "calibration" that can be adjusted.

On the 21st of March, I filled up for a drive to another town but the gas flow at the pump was extremely slow. Much slower than normal. The tank was at 1/2 when I started but at that slower fill rate, it took 15 minutes to get to 8 1/2 gallons on the pump causing me to pull the nozzle to verify that I was actually getting flow. It was flowing. It was so slow as a matter of fact I had to stop when the gas started rising in the fill neck. The auto shutoff would not work. Today is the 27th and I am at a half tank having driven approx. 245 miles with an estimated 222 remaining until empty. This should be correct, or close to it.

I know that the Touring model is much heavier than the Civic and I am by no means a "led foot". I average 45 or so around town and 38ish on the highway at 82 mph. I estimate 440 to 460 miles per tank on the average, the numbers just don't add up. I've seen other posts with similar topics but nothing wide spread and no fixes or explanations.

Any "Insight" to this?

 

[andrew28]

I drove a 2004 Honda Civic Hybrid for 14 years and really enjoyed the long duration between fill-ups, getting around 530 miles per tank. That was with 11 1/2 gallons. I purchased my Insight Touring Model at the beginning of October 2018, and was a bit disappointed to see a range of 412 miles when new to 370 miles now, plus, I have never put in more than 8 1/2 gallons on every fill. My thought was that it was not calibrated correctly from the factory and that I actually had two more gallons in there which would get me another 88 miles past the low fuel light and estimated 17 miles remaining till empty. A dealer that I took it to said it was based on my driving style and would change accordingly and there is no "calibration" that can be adjusted.

On the 21st of March, I filled up for a drive to another town but the gas flow at the pump was extremely slow. Much slower than normal. The tank was at 1/2 when I started but at that slower fill rate, it took 15 minutes to get to 8 1/2 gallons on the pump causing me to pull the nozzle to verify that I was actually getting flow. It was flowing. It was so slow as a matter of fact I had to stop when the gas started rising in the fill neck. The auto shutoff would not work. Today is the 27th and I am at a half tank having driven approx. 245 miles with an estimated 222 remaining until empty. This should be correct, or close to it.

I know that the Touring model is much heavier than the Civic and I am by no means a "led foot". I average 45 or so around town and 38ish on the highway at 82 mph. I estimate 440 to 460 miles per tank on the average, the numbers just don't add up. I've seen other posts with similar topics but nothing wide spread and no fixes or explanations.

Any "Insight" to this?

The estimate is based on your mpg from your previous fuel up. It can't predict how you will drive the car with the current gas tank. As for slow gas flow, I think it has to do with that particular gas pump, unless it frequently happens at other gas stations. Be careful topping off your gas tank, the Insight's gas tank is pressurized, plus fuel might overflow into the evap canister.

 

[fernandocolon]

My car said it had 40 miles of fuel left. Went to the gas station , fill it up...... Only 8.1 gallons

 

[insightfully]

Range is calculated from remaining fuel and the car's current fuel economy reading. I've been pleasantly surprised to see my range increase during drives as my mpg increases during drives. It's like time travel, going back in time where more miles show up.

It's disappointing that there's so much variability from pump-to-pump for fill ups. As a data geek, I have a column for "fuel pump #" in my tracking spreadsheet for mileage/fill-ups, even though I always fill up at the same station. Your slow-fill experience sounds like hasarad's in this 'vehicle mpg' thread; hopefully you'll also see an offset as he did on the next fill up. hasarad also made and interesting point in that thread that since we're only filling ~8 gallons, even a small volume difference at fill-up can throw the mpg estimates off. hasarad gets great (65+ mpg / EX) fuel economy and the car calculates 550+ miles of estimated range, if I remember correctly.

You might also get a kick out of this post where Insight'nAround drove 50 miles past 0 in a Touring trim to see what was possible. This thread on 'Remaining Miles and Gas Tank Indicators', is also informative; Mr. Natural posted there that 1.59 gallons are left when the low fuel light comes on. So even if you fill up at the indicator when 0 mile range is left, you'd only be filling ~9 gal max (out of 10.6 gal capacity).

 

[hasarad]

Range is calculated from remaining fuel and the car's current fuel economy reading. I've been pleasantly surprised to see my range increase during drives as my mpg increases during drives. It's like time travel, going back in time where more miles show up.

It's disappointing that there's so much variability from pump-to-pump for fill ups. As a data geek, I have a column for "fuel pump #" in my tracking spreadsheet for mileage/fill-ups, even though I always fill up at the same station. Your slow-fill experience sounds like hasarad's in this 'vehicle mpg' thread; hopefully you'll also see an offset as he did on the next fill up. hasarad also made and interesting point in that thread that since we're only filling ~8 gallons, even a small volume difference at fill-up can throw the mpg estimates off. hasarad gets great (65+ mpg / EX) fuel economy and the car calculates 550+ miles of estimated range, if I remember correctly.

You might also get a kick out of this post where Insight'nAround drove 50 miles past 0 in a Touring trim to see what was possible. This thread on 'Remaining Miles and Gas Tank Indicators', is also informative; Mr. Natural posted there that 1.59 gallons are left when the low fuel light comes on. So even if you fill up at the indicator when 0 mile range is left, you'd only be filling ~9 gal max (out of 10.6 gal capacity).

True about the slow pump. I went back to fuelly.com and checked the "partial fill-up" box so it would not give me credit for a 55mpg tank followed by a 75mpg tank. It did the average of the two and came out to 65mpg as I had been expecting.

I've drivien the rang eofwn to single digits and never needed to put in more than 9 gallons. I really don't want to puch things. The tank is said to have a 10.1 gallon capacity. I'm not sure how much of that is usable. As far as range, I believe it is calculated based on the previous tank. during summer, I consistently had 550 mile ranges upon fill-up. That dipped to 500ish during the winter. My current tank has a 63.2mpg average after 450 miles. My next commute to work should push me over 550 miles for this tank and end with a range under 20 miles-to-empty. I'm off tomorrow. Since Friday is expected to be mild, I'm expecting to average 65mpg for the 100 mile round trip.

I'm not as daring as Insight'nAround even though I have roadside assistance, but it's nice to know there is a buffer beyond zero. My low fuel light comes on at 47-miles-to-empty. According to my calculations, there should be around two gallons remaining when that happens. For me, that's a little over 100 miles before the fumes run out. I will NOT be testing that theory.

 

[insightfully]

Attached is a brief manual blurb on the range calculation. (The only one I could find?) It mentions using "current fuel economy" to estimate distance... which helps explain why range can go up/down during a drive.

 

[andrew28]

The estimate is based on your mpg from your previous fuel up. It can't predict how you will drive the car with the current gas tank. As for slow gas flow, I think it has to do with that particular gas pump, unless it frequently happens at other gas stations. Be careful topping off your gas tank, the Insight's gas tank is pressurized, plus fuel might overflow into the evap canister.

@swbeck55 Ignore what I wrote about the fuel mileage estimate. Looks like I had it wrong.

Attached is a brief manual blurb on the range calculation. (The only one I could find?) It mentions using "current fuel economy" to estimate distance... which helps explain why range can go up/down during a drive.

I always thought the estimate was based on my average mpg from my previous tank. Then if you have better average fuel economy in your current tank, it will reflect that on your next fuel up with a higher estimate. I never notice my estimate going up during a drive but then again I mostly check after a trip because I have navigation up on the tablet while driving.

 

[mgldan]

I think my record fill-up is 10.1 gallons, well past the point where the estimate hit 0 miles. I just wanted to see. Usually now I chicken out about 40 miles past the 0 mile point, so my fill-ups are like 9.6 gallons.

You do have to be attentive to the odometer if you're going to do this!

Also, one slightly disappointing thing: When the range estimate is 1 mile, the DII says "1 miles", plural, not "1 mile". I didn't think to look at the Display Audio to compare.