I was reading one of the older R&T magazines? (Not sure). And was looking thru the Real Sports Car Contest and realized how huge a gas tank the Z had, 20 gallons! The closest thing to it was the Dodge Viper w/ 18.5 gallons and that car is HUGE. The Vette had quite a reasonable size tank too, about 16 or so. Imagine the Z having 15 or 16 gallon tanks, that would seem to reduce weight by about a reasonable amount. Is it because the way the platform is or is there another reason why manufacturer gave the Z such a huge tank?

 

Prob for longer distance............

You don't necessarily have to fill it up if you don't want to.

 

Cause or DTE reads 0 at 15 gallons so we never actually use the 20 gallons. They wanted to make real sure we never run out of gas.

 

Probebely to balance out the weight of the engine giving the car a near perfect weight distribution.

 

^^ I agree ^^ plus you can go a week without filling it up , unless you like to run only a half tank of fuel!

 

+1 on the weight distribution. That, and its convenient to be able to go almost 400 miles per tank.

 

damn it, i use about 18 gal to go 350 miles, so i guess thats not too bad, so i can really push it another 20-40 miles then?

 

What the hell?!? 400 miles per fill up???

I get around 250-275 and then the DTE is sitting at around 20-30 miles left.

So I can push it past the DTE and be safe for another.. what, 30 miles?

 

When my gauge is at empty, I usually can cram 15 gallons or so in it.

So when your DTE says 20 miles you probably can go another 100 depending on how you drive...

I dont like to chance it though, and I just fill up when it's close to empty.

 

i know coupe can push up to 19-20 miles/gallon but for roadster, it alway around 17.5miles/gallon

 

I have never put more than 15 gallons in the Z at 1 time and this is when the DTE shows about 30 miles. I havent filled it up lately with the gas prices approaching $2.40 a gallon.

 

you can fill up 20gallons if you let your car run out of gas complety. Happen once to me.

 

Almost all of the new cars have their gas light come on when theres about 1-2 miles left in the tank. Those of you who aren't getting ~400 per fill up and get ~20mpg, there have been issues where people couldn't fill up their tanks completely. Next time, pay attention to the # of gallons on the gas pump instead of the price. Say your meter is at 1/4. Thats about 5 gallons left so you should be pumping in about 15 gallons to fill it up.

 

when the dte gauge starts showing --- there is still lots of gas left in the car. I usually drive like 25-30 miles more after that starts showing and never fill up more than 17 gallons. i'm happy that the gas tank is big...it means i don't have to stop to fill up gas between home and school.

 

0 at 15 gallons???

just kidding

 

I love the big tank, I keep it half full around town and fill it up on the long tips.
I imaging part of the reason for it's large size has to do with the space under the glove compartment / stock sub woofer not being all that usable for anything else.

Does anyone know if it has any baffles to keep the gas from shifty from side to side during turns?

Chris

 

This is just and idea, but im not sure. My dad gave me his infiniti as a hand me down car, and I have gone through 2 gas pumps. I let the tank go empty and then fill up (broke college kid). From my understanding the fuel is what cools the pump down and since infiniti and Nissan are basically the same maybe the gas pump works the same. They leave alittle extra so you dont burn your fuel pump out. This is just an idea not sure, but i have learned my lesson(s).

 

Gold Star! You are correct!

 

Wow, it needs 20 gallons to balance itself? The Viper & Vette both have larger engines and it has a smaller tank. But i guess that could be it.

 

If it had a huge gas tank
- people complain but then shut up when they realize they don't have to fill it all the way

If it had a small gas tank
- people complain and can't do anything to put it more gas(unless you want to consider ripping out old tank, modify structure to accommodate big tank, buy a new tank as an option)