330 Sport
08-11-2008, 11:25 AM
(EDIT: Disregard the screen name - I recently upgraded to a 2005 645ci.)
Many a time is it that I've pulled into a gas station with only fumes in the tank - according to the "miles until empty" reading on the dash computer.
Of course, I would then fill up only to find that I still had 2-3 gallons left in the tank. I always assumed that Deutschland skewed this data to err on the side of caution.
Well, I became painfully aware that this was indeed NOT the case on a recent trip thru the Cherokee mountains in North Carolina. For those of you who have not been on this road, it is a beautiful, dangerous, scenic, dangerous part of I-40 with many twisties, elevation changes, tunnels, and jersey barriers (read: little or no shoulder on the road).
It's a nice day, sunny and warm. I'm getting a fantastic 29mpg as I cruise to my destination of South Carolina. *CHIME* goes the car - a big yellow gas pump icon appears on the display. OK - getting low on gas. Miles til empty - 70.
Since you can find more radio stations than gas stations in this area (there's one radio station), I figured I'd be just fine getting thru the mountains before stopping for gas. Wrong.
With the trip computer showing 30 miles til empty, my 645 died, dead as a dead doornail. I made it over to what passed for the shoulder of the road and sat there in disbelief. Out of gas? OUT OF GAS?!!
So there I'm on the side of a mountain as semi's whiz by. I call road service and they ask me where I am. I can see no road signs, no exit signs, no mileage markers. The best I can do is tell them my long. and lat. on the GPS. Not much help.
An hour later, the surly tow truck driver finally arrived and spilled about 3 gallons of gas down the side of my car; some of it getting into the gas tank.
*****
On the trip back from SC, I stopped for gas shortly after the low gas warning icon lit up - the car took 15 gallons. I had 3.5 gallons in the tank.
If they can send a man to the moon, why cant they ...??
Many a time is it that I've pulled into a gas station with only fumes in the tank - according to the "miles until empty" reading on the dash computer.
Of course, I would then fill up only to find that I still had 2-3 gallons left in the tank. I always assumed that Deutschland skewed this data to err on the side of caution.
Well, I became painfully aware that this was indeed NOT the case on a recent trip thru the Cherokee mountains in North Carolina. For those of you who have not been on this road, it is a beautiful, dangerous, scenic, dangerous part of I-40 with many twisties, elevation changes, tunnels, and jersey barriers (read: little or no shoulder on the road).
It's a nice day, sunny and warm. I'm getting a fantastic 29mpg as I cruise to my destination of South Carolina. *CHIME* goes the car - a big yellow gas pump icon appears on the display. OK - getting low on gas. Miles til empty - 70.
Since you can find more radio stations than gas stations in this area (there's one radio station), I figured I'd be just fine getting thru the mountains before stopping for gas. Wrong.
With the trip computer showing 30 miles til empty, my 645 died, dead as a dead doornail. I made it over to what passed for the shoulder of the road and sat there in disbelief. Out of gas? OUT OF GAS?!!
So there I'm on the side of a mountain as semi's whiz by. I call road service and they ask me where I am. I can see no road signs, no exit signs, no mileage markers. The best I can do is tell them my long. and lat. on the GPS. Not much help.
An hour later, the surly tow truck driver finally arrived and spilled about 3 gallons of gas down the side of my car; some of it getting into the gas tank.
*****
On the trip back from SC, I stopped for gas shortly after the low gas warning icon lit up - the car took 15 gallons. I had 3.5 gallons in the tank.
If they can send a man to the moon, why cant they ...??