I just picked up my CS Touring this weekend. 1st off, I love it!! But I do have a question. I was looking at the display for MPG and for DTE (Distance to Empty), and I am not sure how acurate they are. Right now the gauge shows 1/2 a tank and about 165 miles (on this tank), but the DTE says I have 250mile to go. Unless the 2nd half od the tank is bigger than the 1st half I don't think this is correct. I know this might be cuased by it being so new, but I was wondering if it gets more acurate with time. And which do you guys trust more, the gauge, or DTE?
So far this is the only question I have, but I'm sure there will be more to come.
Thanks in advance.

 

Mine's always been pretty accurate. Remember, the DTE miles will change with your driving style--i.e. when you're driving the car harder, the gas milage goes way down, and so will your DTE.

Overall, I would say DTE is a good estimate, but not dead on.

 

my gas gauge is way off, I fill up with an 1/8th left and I put 14gallons in, its a 20 gallong tank, and a 1/8th of 20 is not 6.

its something I can live with, but it also throws the DTE off since it thinks it has less gas than it has. its bad practice to run the tank anywhere near dry, so it kinda keeps me in the safe zone.

 

I think its accurate up to what the car thinks is 'empty'.

The problem is.. like ares said.. what the car lists as 'empty' is far from it. Empty seems to be about 17gallons.. when its a 20 gallon tank.

So even if your DTE is at zero.. you probably have at least two gallons left.

 

so is the guage connected to the computer? Becuase there is no way that mine are getting there data from the same place. The gauge is at 1/2 tank, but I have only traveled 165 miles on this tank, and the DTE says 250 to empty. If they are both consistently inaccurate, that is no big deal, but if ther are both different from each other, I don't know which one to trust.

 

yeah I was sweating bulliets one morning coming back from work. thought hell I got enought gas so I went on my way. Well I kept looking at the DTE and sure enought It got to about 10 mile left, then it just started blinking a couple of dash marks where the #'s where. I was like aaah Crap I'm screwed, but it was able to get me another 10 miles or so. So I'd if it starts Blinking the Dash marks get to a gas station quick.

 

The dte is calculated on your current mpg recalculated every 30 seconds. If you are in stop and go then get on an empty freeway your dte will increase since your mpg has increased since the last calculation. The dte is based on how you drove the last 30 seconds, which is logical.

Coming home from a long trip Sunday, I made it home with the dte reading a flashing "- - - - - -" (last number was 15 miles to empty). Next morning I got 17.2 gallons of gas in a 20 gallon tank. There is a lot of reserve here.

 

I swear I read in the owners manual that the car has 3 gallons left on Empty, but I can't remember where I read that precisely. Seem to coincide with folks numbers here. Either way, its a rough estimate, the same kinda of calculation you'd run in your head if you were trying to find out what the mpg your running is. A nice "frill" gadget but not a precise tool In the end, you should be filling your tank before you hit the E.

 

Mine are pretty innaccurate in both the 350 and Max, especially the MPG aspect of the trip computer. My trip is usually off by 60 miles or so vs. the odometer and my calculations.

 

yeah 60 gallons, cause we all seem to be coming up with about a 3 gallon reserve, at about 20mpg on average thats 60miles.

like I said, i could complain and probably have it recalibrated, but with the tank so big, its no big deal, good to have that buffer, still go pretty long time between fills.

 

Simply divide the number of miles driven on your last tank of gas by the number of gallons put into the car at next fill-up. i.e. 320.6 miles / 17.3 gallons of gas = 18.53 mpg.

 

Yep, and my onboard computer was within .1 mpg from my last actual calculated mpg using the formula like the above. I would say it's pretty accurate.

 

keep in mind the total size of the tank and "useable" fuel are two different things.

we have a 20 gal tank but I'd say there is at least 1 gallon in the tank that is not useable... meaning it sits below the pump pickup.

so if you put in 18 gallons you were cutting it close

 

I have checked and then reset the "Avg. MPG" at many fillups and then compared it to the calculated MPG (using the trip odometer mileage / gallons I put in). The Avg. MPG is consistently 1 higher than calculated.

DTE is worthless unless you're at steady speed.