To have run the petrol down to 40 miles left

[Baby3or]

I recently drove 115 miles on a motorway back to London suburbs. I was watching the petrol number the whole way (it gives it in miles left to go before it’s empty) and at 70 I was considering stopping for petrol (lots of places on the motorway and then lots of places in city suburbs on the way to our house). I decided not to stop as baby was asleep and also our older child was keen to get home after a long journey.

we live less than a mile from a big supermarket with a petrol station and also plenty of other places to fill up.

husband had a go at me saying ‘what would I have done if we had run out of petrol / how had I let myself get in that situation’ I said I was fully aware how much was left and I made a decision not to refuel as on balance it was low but not empty.

AIBU??

I've run mine on fumes before now 🤣

My mum was notorious for this so when she got a new car that had a R on the fuel guage to show you when you had a reserve of about 40 miles left, my dad told her that the word 'Empty' in German began with R so that she'd think that the tank was empty when she hit the R and fill up!

My car is so old it just has a bar that gets lower and then a red light comes on. I have no idea how many miles are left. I leave it until it goes red. Your husband would have a meltdown.

Is he that dull in other areas of your life?

Even on 0 you probably have a good 20 miles still left.

It's true you shouldn't run a diesel to empty, but I think that's more for older diesel cars.

I don't think I have ever driven DH car when the red light isn't on.

I tend to go as low as 30 before filling up again, but only because I drive for work and it's rarely somewhere within that mileage allowance ao have to fill up.

Blimey, a petrol light on for three years! 😱

I don't drive for more than 20 minutes with mine on.

You're very brave...

40 is practically a full tank

He's being a bit of a moaning minnie

DH would count his lucky stars if he saw above 2 miles of petrol in the car.

Mine’s on 40 right now and I probably won’t fill it until Wednesday!

I did run out of gas once, but that was in an ancient car with an old-school gauge so a bit harder to read. I don’t worry about it in this car!

Ha he would never cope with my electric car 40 miles is half charged. You've never experienced range anxiety until you have a car that only does 99miles on a full charge 😉.

My car is so old it just has a bar that gets lower and then a red light comes on. I have no idea how many miles are left. I leave it until it goes red

Pfft. Amateur.

There's a stage after that. When the red light goes from being solid red to red that blinks on and off.

That's when you fill up! 😂

I once picked up a courtesy car whilst my daughter's motability car was in for repair. As I drove away from the garage I realised that, not only was the petrol light on, but the needle on the gauge was actually below the red area on the display. The nearest petrol station to the garage was the other side of a level crossing! Now that, I did have stern words with the garage about!

My car is inaccurate on motorways… as dh discovered recently. Ran out of fuel at 50 miles left

I get edgy if I have a couple of miles over the distance to the nearest fuel station , but I would be loving it at 40. My husbands car is often on fumes

Oh and DH has worked out that there is 70miles left in his car after the light comes on. And he still didn't run out I never let it go that low but he's happy to.

I regularly drive on 0 to the next garage!

Well done for not snapping back but you have bigger problems to consider.

It’s absolutely literally the opposite of that! Drags up any the sediment that has settled from microscopic contaminants in the fuel from the storage tanks and old pipes at petroleum stations! Also if you actually do run out on some cars it can cause an air lock problem whereby it won’t restart and run properly again without a mechanics help. Very bad idea with absolutely no positives.

The tank goes way past zero to pretty much minus 40 miles. That's as far as I have dared push it. Would love to know the actual limit. YANBU.

The more fuel you carry, the more fuel you use!

We were on 0 miles last week and still didnt panic 😂

I start worrying under 20miles.

I go down to zero all the time! I did once run out of petrol, that was a lesson learned!! But I did do a good 30 miles on zero and it was a small car.

40 miles is loads!

DH also wasn’t mad when I ran out, he came and helped me and realised I didn’t need a lecture. He loves me so came to help. That’s what supportive couples do. Someone berating me for 40 miles on the tank would do my head in.

Op, your DH is an idiot. My car... I've done 50+ miles with the range reading zero, filled it up to find that I still had 3 litres of fuel in it! Good for another 30 miles easily.

We should swap husbands. I try my best to fill up at 100 miles latest but get antsy at 30 even for the 300yards to the petrol station. In the last 10 years I've never seen more than 40 in his car. And he tells me to just keep going in either car.

I appreciate you’re enjoying the light-hearted nature of this replies (as someone who filling up with 20 miles left thinks that’s great planning!) but if it would help you could start another thread on the relationships board to help with the dickhead husband problem

Fond memories of the time I drove to Scotland sharing my car with my friend to take turns doing the drive from London. Somewhere just north of Carlisle I wake up and say ‘shit when did the light go on’? Her - what light? 40m to the next services, I think we rolled that thing in. 😂

On a different note, Op, sounds like things are hard atm - I hope things work out for you, with or without “D”H. It’s even trickier with small children so thinking of you.