My petrol gauge was on the red yesterday but the 'distance to empty' on my computer said i still had 40 miles worth left. How accurate is this compared to the actual gauge?

Hi

From my own experience, the guages are pretty accurate.

In general, when the fuel light comes on, it should be accompanied by a 'bong' type sound and, at that point, it should show you that you have 50 miles left to refuel.

I've reached that point many times and, 'with all of my fingers and toes crossed' and, because I could not be bothered to stop, I have run the car down to 0 miles and still had a few miles left to get home.

Running it down to 0 miles is not recommended though and at the 50 mile point, you should refuel but, as a rule, I do normally try and refuel when the gauge reaches a quarter of a tank.

Ok thanks. Dont recall hearing a bong when fuel light came on but i had my radio turned up lol

Yeah it'll 'pong' at around 50 miles to go (Sometimes mine only pongs at 35,40,46, 51, anytime around there!)

It'll also switch to the 'Distance Remaining' screen on the dash.

The lowest I've been is 16 miles to go, and the miles were going down by about 3 per mile!

Ok thanks

My gauge was completely on empty yesterday. The computer reckoned I had 15 miles left but it was dropping fast. I was a bit worried because I though the distance to empty was just an estimate, was half expecting it to die on me actually

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The distance to empty isn't accurate. It guesses how far you can go based on how you drive the car.

it's no where near accurate, the old ST did what 430miles on a tank, ran to absolute zero and could only put 45 and a bit litres into a 48ltr tank, there is always loads left to spare, if at night only panic when you see a red glow from under the car when the cat gets really hot.

Ok cheers for that