Gas Stations

[rana]

I have a ford which displays ___ KMS to Empty. I travel the same route regularly. My question is when the gas prices were up & I used to fill up my tank the display used to show 550 Kms to Empty. Now when I fill up it shows 491 Kms to empty, why the difference? Do the gas station add or remove something or is it the car!!

[bythehour]

It may due to the colder weather. The temperature was a lot warmer when gas was expensive. Mileage tends to decrease in the colder weather.

But, that's a significant decline. I don't think that the mileage hit should be that big.

[ES_Revenge]

LOL the mileage remaining has little to do with what you're putting in the tank. You could fill it with water (and though it wouldn't run, lol) it would say the same thing. It's not so advanced as to be testing the quality or chemical composition of the fuel. It just takes the level in the tank and gives you an approximate mileage based on conditions and vehicle operation. (I.e. Grandma around and it will probabably stay high, but drive around with your foot on the floor, accelerating like mad all the time, and it will go down.)

bythehour's explanation of temperature is probably it. The car's electronics can indeed sense temperature, so it could just be giving the reduced reading based on the fact that it's colder outside. With highway driving with a warmed engine and a constant speed, colder air should actually give better mileage, but with city driving and the engine not up to temperature right away, on shorter/city drives, you're going to suffer reduced mileage. That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

Furthermore that reading is just an estimate--it should tell you that in your owner's manual. What you should be more concerned about is how many kms you get in reality once you're driving around.

[totech]

Probably winter gas too - it has more gas line antifreeze and less fuel.

Its a regular yearly cycle.

[gherikill]

Winter gas + cold starts = worse gas mileage

Your meter calculates your average economy and then compares it to how much gas you have in your tank to come up with the range.

[MrBurns]

Put your foot down and it'll show you 50 KMS to empty. Coast in neutral and it will show 600 KMS to empty.
Nothing to do with gremlins, all relative to consumption rate.