[stsimon0073]

I've got over 600 miles now on my new 5-speed. It is showing 3 bars of fuel level. How low can I safely go without running out of gas?

 

[hawkGT647]

The low level light will probably come on when you drop from 2 bars to 1 bar.

Depending on your instantaneous MPG, you will still have approx. 3/4 to 1 gallon left in the fuel tank.

If you decide to continue to drive after all the bars are gone, you may want to have a spare gas can handy.

 

[Billy]

.....I have tested this on all 3 of my Insights, purposely running out of fuel to "calibrate" the fuel gauge. In every case it was the same --- after ALL the bars are gone, I could drive about 68 miles (freeway)........

 

[jbrasure]

From the previous posts, it sounds like there is about 1 gallon of fuel left once all of the bars are gone.

 

[goat961]

i've put about 40 miles on it after the last bar disappeared.... but that wasn't by choice and i though for sure i was going to run out. when i filled up it took 9.96 gallons

 

[Valiant118]

My '04 CVT will only have about .9 gals left in the tank when the gauge gets to two bars. I've never trusted the thing enough to try getting the low fuel light to come on.

 

[Dougie]

I don't get the idea behind "run it practically dry then fill it up to the brim." Why not run it between, say, 3/4 and 1/4 full? That way you don't take a chance on running out of gas, and also you don't carry around 20 pounds of extra weight?

 

[b1shmu63]

Bragging rights and the element of fear, :shock: :lol: and driving so long between fill ups that you forget which side of the car the filler is on. :roll:

 

[merigayle]

Once I let it get down to 2 or 3 bars and when I filled it, it almost took 10 gallons of gas!!!! :shock: It is a 2006, i believe there is a 10gal tank, no reserve. My civic has 12 gals and the light goes on at 2 to go.

 

[Infidel]

I don't get the idea behind "run it practically dry then fill it up to the brim." Why not run it between, say, 3/4 and 1/4 full? That way you don't take a chance on running out of gas, and also you don't carry around 20 pounds of extra weight?

Very simple, actually. I'm a hypermiler, and I keep a log of exactly how much gas I put in on every fillup, how many miles on the tank, etc, etc. By filling up to the brim (so that gas is literally sitting right there), I *KNOW* I have exactly the same amount of gas in the tank every time I leave the station.

I run it is dry as possible merely for the challenge of getting as many miles as I possibly can on a tank. Between my paper log and my mpg for the current tank, I know exactly *to the mile* how much further I can drive with zero chance of running empty.

It isn't about practicality, weight, time, or any other foolishness. I do it simply because it amuses me.

 

[psuinsight]

On my last fillup (today) I was trying to fill up at the gauge's half way point, but I slightly missed the point. My gauge read 1 bar below half full...and my tank took 6.058 gallons. The tank is rated at 10.6 gallons so I would expect half full to be 5.3 gallons. At one bar below half it appears that slightly over 6 gallons to fill up indicates pretty good accuracy for the fuel gauge
My mpg was about 57 mpg which is mostly hilly rural road and town driving.
I really appreciate the vapor recovery system on the Insight. While living in Maryland I got used to pump nozzles with vapor recovery...nice, no gas fumes to inhale. When I moved back to Central; PA no vapor recovery on the pump nozzles :shock: When I bought my Insight I was delighted to find that the vapor from the pump nozzle seemed to stay in the fuel tank. Nice job Honda!!!

 

[Dougie]

I was under the impression that on the Insight, as on every other new car, there were a bunch of filters and stuff in the fuel system that could be "force filled" and thereby screwed up...

 

[goat961]

On my last fillup (today) I was trying to fill up at the gauge's half way point, but I slightly missed the point. My gauge read 1 bar below half full...and my tank took 6.058 gallons. The tank is rated at 10.6 gallons so I would expect half full to be 5.3 gallons. At one bar below half it appears that slightly over 6 gallons to fill up indicates pretty good accuracy for the fuel gauge
My mpg was about 57 mpg which is mostly hilly rural road and town driving.
I really appreciate the vapor recovery system on the Insight. While living in Maryland I got used to pump nozzles with vapor recovery...nice, no gas fumes to inhale. When I moved back to Central; PA no vapor recovery on the pump nozzles :shock: When I bought my Insight I was delighted to find that the vapor from the pump nozzle seemed to stay in the fuel tank. Nice job Honda!!!

i was under the impression that the fuel guage was non-linear.... although exactly how much bigger the top "half" is should be interesting

 

[Infidel]

i was under the impression that the fuel guage was non-linear.... although exactly how much bigger the top "half" is should be interesting

I usually fill my insight within 20 miles of losing my last bar. When I do this, I also usually put in about 12 gallons. (1.5 of which is "overfill" to get the gas up the the gas cap). Under these conditions, I lose my first bar of gas after about 30% of the miles I'd expect from that tank. At 1/2 full indicated, I've traved about 60% of my total range, and at 3 bars showing, I've gone about 90% of my total range.

This is totally repeatable given the avg mpg of my current tank, which I always reset on trip 2 on every fillup.

Once you hit 2 bars, they seem to go out unreasonably quick, yet the gauge decays very linearly until about the 3 bar level. I've also seen the gas gauge seems to do a "mini-recal" of sorts after changing driving styles. If I drive the car after my wife, I'll sometimes gain a bar or stop loosing bars for about 100-150 miles or so. It's almost as if the car is taking into account your current driving style when prsenting you the gas gauge info....

 

[merigayle]

The Insight is my 4th Honda and in all of them i noticed that the gas gauge goes down very slowly, then once it is just under half full, it drops fast. :?:

 

[minako]

...and driving so long between fill ups that you forget which side of the car the filler is on. :roll:

This made me laugh. I bought my Insight last Thursday and was just thumbing through the owner's manual. When I got to the part that told me the gas cap was on the passenger's side of the car, I was like, "What!?" On every Honda I've ever owned, the gas cap has been on the driver's side.

Then I thought, "Why did I not realize this before??"

And then I remembered - It's because I haven't had to fill up the car yet! :lol:

 

[merigayle]

having the gas cap on the passenger side is really weird, this is my 4th honda too! Ijust filled up for the first time in 3 weeks, the last time i filled up was memorial day weekend 4 states away! whoohooo.

 

[Resist]

I can go slightly more than 50 miles in the city, when the low fuel light comes on. I know becuase I tested it by running out of fuel once. So I just figure 50 miles at the light.