How low do you leave your fuel tank before filling up?

I leave mine for as long as possible as well. I normally leave it until I have gone into the red but as I don't have a fuel light i don't know how many miles i have left until I'm stranded so normally fill up then!

Generally i put petrol in when it gets to just on the red with no light..it beeps madly at me when the light comes on!!

I HATE getting petrol.

Like you, I get 40 miles once my fuel light comes on. When it does I reset my clock on my dashboard so I know how long I've got before I absolutely need to get petrol.

This!

I don't really have a routine for filling up, sometimes I'll wait til the last possible minute and sometimes I'll top up if I see somewhere that's cheaper than most. We generally fill up when we visit the parents or MIL as it's a lot cheaper where they live (nowhere near each other though) than by us. It was cheaper the last time we went to London than by us.

One of these days I will conk out and be stranded, I am terrible for driving on an empty tank, 40 miles in the tank once the light comes on and it counts down, I'm often still driving when it says 0 miles....

I look for cheap (relatively speaking) petrol once I get down to a quarter tank full.

Inbetween red & a quarter full. Ive only ever had the red light on once. It annoys me!

I didn't know either, found out by accident!!

? this is me a bit too, I'm absolutley terrified of breaking down on the motorway but at the same time I sort of like the adreniline of wondering if I'll make it!! *freak*

I'll squeeze a few more journeys out once the light comes on but bizarrely found myself driving faster to try to get where I'm going before the petrol runs out

When I had a Yaris it has electronic digital dash so was hard to judge how low you were anyway apparently I let it get to low and it got air in the tank so started kangarooing when you pulled off.

The fuel tank indicator stopped working in H's old car and we ran out of petrol in the outside lane of the motorway. Luckily he managed to steer us onto the hard shoulder but it was right next to a junction so we ended up on the slip road.

I always leave it until the light comes on, but then I fill up as soon as I can see a petrol station. I don't do too many miles in a month, and if I'm lucky I only have to fill up once a month so it's not real hardship for me.

Exactly this.

I try not to go down to the light in case it's all the cr@ppy stuff at the bottom (not sure if this is a myth Pa Bubble told me though, so he never has to come out and rescue me - it's worked though!).

This is true! I also don't let it get too low as my journey to work at the moment is 65 miles one way and despite it being motorway the whole way there are only 3 petrol stations between home and work so I don't like to chance it

ha ha ha you're not alone, I think a bit like that too...

As soon as the light comes on, but I was once told not to let it get that low as the crap gets into your engine, don't know if that's true. Also I always fill it full, but I had heard that it uses less if you only keep it half full, can't be nothered though.

As soon as the fuel light comes on. It says there is 50 miles left but that's wrong - I've watched it drop by 5 miles a time every couple of miles.

My fuel tank drops like a stone once it gets to 1/4 full due to the shape of it.

The range left depends entirely on driving style.

It is true about rubbish at the bottom of a tank - won't do the engine any good.

I'm definitely not as much of a thrillseeker as you lot! I fill up before it gets to red, as a) with my car it doesn't say how many miles you have left when it gets into the red, and b) I've heard its not good for the engine for it to be using the dregs.

I get told about the dregs all the time.... but my thinking is if I always let it run down there wont be all that many dregs in the bottom anyway.

I spend over £300 a month of fuel, it is ridiculous!!!

Gosh, I run my car on fumes for daaaays! I operate under the spurious 'fact' that once it hits red, I still have 30 miles left....I have thought this about every one of my cars, each having a different engine size, tank shape etc, so not quite sure how I manage to be so certain!

I will leave it on red for short trips to shops and nipping around town - I am always broke so I usually bung a tenner in when I have to drive to my mum's. To be honest, I use the train/tube for work so I don't need the car much.

I beat that, £400 for me! At one point me and my H were spending out £800 per month on fuel just to get to work ?

I generally fill up when i have a quarter of a tank left. My Dad's words resounding in my head about the cr@p at the bottom of the petrol tank if it gets any lower...

I conked out of fuel once not long after passing my test- was VERY embarassing.

I rarely fuel the car as he drives it more than me and I can't be bothered doing it when I am in the drivers seat!

We try to keep it full as possible depending on what journeys are planned in the near future, I can't remember the last time the warning light was on, but I only drove the thing once last week and can't see me driving again before next Wednesday!!

I drive to different schools/towns each day for work so it depends on where I am going to when I fill up. I try to leave it as late as possible because I am tight ?

I try to plan when I will get pretrol too, because driving around means I know the best places to buy petrol and where it is cheapest.

I have run out of petrol in my car before (old car not current one) because the petrol light stopped working. I went to the gym and was planning on getting petrol on the way home and it conked out on me....on a bloody junction of all places! Cue proper panic! Plus I couldn't get hold of anyone, it was getting dark and I was in a proper dodge area of town!! We only had one car at the time so when I eventually got hold of OH he biked over to me to make sure I was ok...nothing he could do but bless him. Since then, I never let my petrol get too low.
It's usually before the light comes on, or just as it comes on that I fill up. But I never put a full tank in, unless we are going on a super long journey (like when we go to Cornwall). Partly because I've heard you use more petrol on a full tank, and partly because I get depressed at how much a full tank costs!!

I always let it go onto the light, which is bad. Its cos I hate filling up. I have been told by my parents not to do it as others have said, it sucks crap into the engine.

However this comment is interesting:

Because I was told the opposite, that its more economical to fill up completely.

It certainly seemed the case last week I put half a tank in and its gone a whole 2 days earlier than I expected! (Travelling the usual distance!)

Untill the car coughs?!!

Im MrMinis car it tells you how many miles you have left so you know how urgent its getting. My retro machine has ye olde needle, when the orange light comes on, I know I have about 3 days of backwards and forwards to work until I need to fill up.

I always push my luck, I have only conked out once and that was only because I went to the petrol station when I knew I absolutely had to but had left my bank card at work. I had to go back to get it and and as I was just leaving it went kaput.

We've just got a knew car and I hate not knowing my limit. I have to share a car with H so I HATE filling it up, I always try to time it for a day when he has it ?

My H can't drive but I always think why should that stop him filling it up for me while I stay in the car! But he says the fumes go for his asthma. ? Lies.

I just wish a petrol station in this town would get pay at pump. Worst bit is going in to pay. Apart from the price obv. 142.9 it was today, (4p down from last week though!)

£1.47??? £1.46 (I can't count) I'd rather get the bus!!!

Oh and your H is a wuss ?

My car is trained to run on fumes as I fill it up so rarely. I let it run right down to the bare bones before I top up, no idea why. Just a lazy cow I think.

For 2 people the bus is only 50p cheaper than a taxi into town round here. £8 taxi for a 20 minute journey or £7.50 on the bus.