Strange Mileage Readings
I frequently check the number of miles remaining in the tank on arriving home from work at night to see if I need to stop for gas the next morning. (With the computer reporting how many miles are left in the tank based on my mileage and remaining volume, I never bother with the fuel gauge.)
I look at it again when I get in it the next morning and its usually from 4 to 16 miles less than when I parked it. Then I noticed that when I start out in the morning it doesn't count down the miles for the first 4-6 miles. So when I get low, I don't think it's very reliable, but I also know that the owner's manual says it has a 15.3 gallon tank and I have never put 14 gallons in it, even at zero miles remaining. So with my 19.8 mpg average, I figure I always have at least a gallon in the tank and another 20 miles available after I hit zero.
Story replies
The Distance to empty you usually have on the car is just to give you an idea about the mileage you can make with the fuel remaining in the tank. It is not accurate at all! It changes with the way you are driving the car, with the real time MPG. So when your car is running cold in the morning, the real time MPG will be VERY BAD and the computer may skip it to not give you very false reading! As some cars will not measure the real time MPG when the car speed is below 15MPH. If you want a very very accurate reading, just get an OBD reader and connect it to a smart device. That will allow you to get estimate on the real amount of fuel injected into the engine (Injection time and MAF to estimate flow) and also you can take to equation the engine delivered power to get some real numbers about the quantity of fuel being consumed. Some cars are supporting Fuel level to OBD so you will know exactly the quantity of fuel available and you can add also the drop in fuel level. I tried that with my old Camry. The results was amazing! I got 0.03 MPG difference!
My earlier siipscuons have been proven correct. Seeing such a massive drop in gas mileage had to mean something more than fuel was in the tank. On WKAG, Eddie Owen reported that water and clay dirt were contaminants in the gasoline.
Weirdly enough, I think this is aosmgnt the lesser of the world's problems:a) I don't think India yet has the road infrastructure to support a huge uptick in number of cars.b) I think it will take a while to build the cars.c) and I think Peak Oil will start biting (everybody except oil producers who subsidize it for their people) big-time before much of a) and b) happen... According to CIA Factbook, India was already importing 2M barrels/day in 2005.On the other hand, this size car might well get to be a reasonable platform for EV or PHEV, which are far more useful in India's urban areas anyway.