116.120 Fuel Capacity:

[Doktor Bert]

In general, I am always filling my car when the needle falls between the double lines near empty and recording between 15.7 and 16.2 gallons. For quite some time, I thought this must have been my fuel tank capacity...until this morning.

I leave for work each morning at 4:30am and like a moron, I didn't refuel last night. As I was pulling out of the drive, I noticed my fuel gauge and my trip meter read 500 miles, which is actually a little more than I normally drive on 16 gallons of fuel.

However, I remember reading the owner's manual and seeing the fuel tank capacity listed as 21.7 US gallons, so this morning, I decided to tempt the Diesel Gods and see how far I could go.

My 55 mile commute to work is highway all the way, so I just set the car on 65 and leave it there for the entire trip.

Based on my calculations, since I average 28.0mpg and have recorded a best-ever figure of 31.28mpg, I figured that I had a total cruising range of about 600 miles, but the owner's manual stated that the fuel capacity "is about 21.7 U.S. gallons," which doesn't exactly relate to a specific amount.

Nonetheless, it's cold, I have a quart of home-brewed french vanilla coffee and I am already past Visalia, California on westbound SR 198, so the next location where diesel is available before 8:00am is almost 30 miles away in Lemoore, California.

About 15 miles into my trip, the fuel guage needle lays down and stops moving; the low fuel diamond never lights up. However, we must still have fuel onboard because we are still cruising at 65mph without any issues. 45 minutes later, I roll into work with 557 miles driven on this tank of fuel.

By my calculations, I should have to put about 19.5 gallons in the tank to fill it, which should leave me about 2.2 gallons in reserve....

That should be enough to get to the diesel pumps on Interstate 5 in Coalinga...I hope...