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Miles remaining...

'05 325Ci here. Was running low on gas today and didn't have time in the morning to fill up, so I drove all the way to work anyway. On the way back, I hit MAJOR traffic (damn Deegan Expwy), and the gas light was on for over an hour while I was idling and occassionally accelerating in first gear. I watched the "miles remaining" counter go from 30 all the way down to 1 before I finally reached the service stop that in reality was only a few miles away from my workplace.

So I was wondering if BMW has purposely "built in" a safety buffer telling you you have x miles to go but in reality you have x + 20 miles to go. I know the miles is based on gas remaining multiplied by some average MPG based on recent driving habits, but maybe BMW engineers purposely makes the final number a bit lower to scare you into getting gas before you actually run out? Has anyone ever hit 0?

Reply to
Charles C. Shyu
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I've driven 10 miles or so a couple of times after the display started showing '---'.

Reply to
Grant

"Charles C. Shyu" wrote

Yes. I think most trip computers are set up that way. In my A4, once the display showed "0 miles to empty", I could still go another 20-40 miles depending on driving conditions.

Cheers,

Pete

Reply to
Pete

Yes, in my Merc I, too, have several times run beyond the '0 miles left'.

A bit of a nail-biter, though.

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

I'm having the same problem. Can you send me the answer when you figure it out?

Tom snipped-for-privacy@postmasternetworks.com

Reply to
Tom Smith

I think your problem is something else.

Pete

Reply to
Pete

No, they do not build in a fudge factor. They calculate the remaining range based on the average overall fuel consumption rate based on a long period of driving. When you started out, you had enough gas to go 30 miles, but as you sat and sat in traffic, the gas was consumed while you went nowhere. By the time you finally bought gas, you had enough in the tank to go another mile. Basically, you were close to walking.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

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