My tank and pips.

The car gives little warning. It gives a single beep when the last pip starts flashing, then no more warning until the car actually stops. The gauging is not accurate, but extremely conservative. If Miles to Empty doesn't already read zero, you probably aren't even close to empty. Some readers go 50-ish miles beyond zero, and a few have done over 100, but I seem to remember one reporting running dry just 7 miles after noticing distance to empty reading zero.

Bob Wilson intentionally ran his cars dry for fun and sport. For the long story on the 2010, read [WARNING] Running out of gas (Gen III). Note that the real situation is figured out very deep in the thread.

 

I just filled my tank for the first time. The fuel gauge was showing two pips and the distance to empty read 105. The tank took 8.09 gallons to fill to the first click. I manually calculated 48.6 mpg over 393 miles (MID read 52.6 mpg).

The factory states the tank capacity is 11.9 gallons. In theory, I should be able to drive to no pips displayed with 0 distance to empty and beyond.

I will never do this. My principal concern is miles per gallon not miles per tank. It's two pips for me.

 

I ran dry in 7 miles from when my Gen 2 started blinking the last pip, but the Gen 2 has a flexible bladder to add confusion to running empty. The Gen 3 is much more dependable in this regard

 

I go to two pips and then I'm looking for a station. Why take chances.

 

be careful about the warning beep, it's not very loud and easy to miss! especially if you like your music loud.

 

I could swear about also reading a Gen3 posting from someone who went dry just 7 miles after noticing (i.e. an unknown distance after it actually happened) DTE = 0. However, when trying to find that example earlier this year, your case was the only one found. Don't know if I didn't search hard enough, or am suffering early early warning signs of dementia.

But I still refer to it to emphasize that testing this is not risk-free. As a very young driver, a new (to me) car actually ran dry with the gauge above E, shortly after my parents mocked me for getting concerned about low fuel in one of their cars. Drivers need to be familiar and comfortable with their own fuel tank refill behavior before testing this, and should take care to minimize the consequences of getting it wrong, such as not testing at all when the cost of failure is significant.

I still push this in all my cars because knowing fuel range to something more precise than a two hour uncertainty has significant value to me, also the result of first hand experience in a restricted fuel situation.