I have had this car for 4 months now and I am tad bit confused about the fuel tank capacity on my 1.6 TDI Black Edition Estate.

I have been in 3 situations where the remaining miles before the fuel runs out were 7-10 and after re-fuelling the tank it only managed 42-43 litres (brimmed). Which makes me thing that the fuel tank is not 50 L as it was on my 1.2 TSI Hatch.

What do you intelligent people think about it?

Thanks

Saurabh

Lots of us have seen the same on all the models and engine sizes; mine always says low fuel at around 70 miles left in the tank showing in the maxidot display and yet I've got it down to 5 miles left and even zero before and have never got more than 42-45 litres in.

 

I wish they had fitted the (slightly) bigger 55 lt tank they fit to the Scout models as it does feel like you are filling more frequently in the Mk3........

That's what I mean. Why would you advertise 50 L tank and it can't take more than 45.

I've got the same on my BE, with 0 miles and empty tank it took £55.00 of diesel to click the nozzle.

The fuel gauge and Maxidot is risk averse.

If you drive on with 0 miles showing on Maxidot, in my experience good for a good few miles more, have filled up with 48 litres before.

I think the reserve on the Mk3 is quite large, so when it reads 0 miles range there is likely still a good few litres left. Ive never had the brass to drive down to 0 miles and keep driving though.

Its possibly intentional to prevent people running the cars too low on fuel and dragging carp from the bottom of the tank into the filters. These things are becoming ever so more sensitive to poor quality/dirty fuel after all.

Makes me laugh though, stated range for the 2.0 TDi 150 is about 730 miles....ive barely ever got 500 out of mine, whereas my throughly less efficient 170 vRS DSG would get 500+ without complaint.

Definately the distance to empty estimation on the diesels is very conservative, perhaps linked with whether a regen will be required shortly.

For sure this is to prevent people running low on fuel (not sure whether there is some history with VW and their diesel run-dry protection).

Its possible that this is linked to some european markets where it is illegal to run out of fuel on the major roads (like Switzerland & Germany).

 

I often wait to fill up until the distance to empty is almost 0 & usually I manage around 42-44L with each fill.

However, on a couple of extended highway runs I have achieved close to 1000km range & the tank has taken ~48Lto fill.

 

Once you get used to it, you have an idea of the real range of the car & I also think its nice to know that you can actually get some significant milage after reaching 0km in a real emergency.

Today's fill-up

 

 

Last Friday, out of stubbornness more than anything, I drove 45 miles after the range indicator went to 0. I was getting about 60mpg for that distance, which implies about 3.4l, and when I filled up it took 48.5l.

 

I wouldn't recommend it - it got quite stressful towards the last ten miles - but I think it's reasonable to assume that the range goes to 0 with about 5l left in the tank.

Really we need someone to drain a tank and properly measure its capacity, because the figures in the brochure, manual and trip computer obviously can't be trusted, as discussed in other recent threads. However there would still be the risk of differences between countries, petrol or diesel, two or four wheel drive (which are supposed to the different in the UK), estate or hatchback and model year.

Its possibly intentional to prevent people running the cars too low on fuel and dragging carp from the bottom of the tank into the filters.

 

Carp do terrible things to modern diesel engines!

 

Our 2.0 diseasal is doing 50mpg, so 50L tank being about 11 gallons, 450 miles would leave a gallon left? We're on about 420 with the needle just above the red, I'll let you know how much it takes to fill it. 

Carp do terrible things to modern diesel engines!

 

Our 2.0 diseasal is doing 50mpg, so 50L tank being about 11 gallons, 450 miles would leave a gallon left? We're on about 420 with the needle just above the red, I'll let you know how much it takes to fill it. 

470odd miles on the clock, the fuel light came on and  it only took 41 litres! 500miles is clearly safe if you're not in the wilderness.