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??

Just slowly slowly get your ducks in a row so when you're ready to leave you've emotionally detached and can go.

Years ago our empty light broke. We had to be super careful not to drive more than about 30 miles without refilling once into the red as we lived a long way from the nearest petrol station. DH once handed over the car to me with the gauge on red and swore blind that it had only just dipped into it. I went off to do a night shift and broke down on the way home 😭

A month later the fucker did exactly the same thing and I broke down again 🤬

I still made less of a fuss than your DH!

Completely unreasonable. During the fuel run a few years ago, I discovered that my fuel light actually starts flashing when it gets extremely low. I can do around another 50 miles once my fuel light comes on and my range says zero. (Not that I actually do this, but it's good to know I can in an emergency!)

I often let mine run down to beyond 0, where the car refuses to speculate a range any longer. 40 miles left is happy driving for me!

Dh went to use the car the other day and needed mine due to size of the boot. I looked up and said “oh errrr…” he laughed and said “is the petrol light on? Okay, I’ll fill up while I’m out” then he kissed me.

Christ mines on 16 miles left and I have school run and a job interview tomorrow! I thought to myself today “meh that’s a tomorrow job!!”

No-one fills up on the motorway - it's so much more expensive!

Never more than 10 miles for me. Several times driving around looking for a petrol station on zero. That gives you a real buzz. Although I have broken down twice doing this, made me feel very silly when breakdown recovery came out, but that was over a decade ago. If you top it up at 40, it makes your car too heavy and expensive to run.

Yanbu I run mine down to zero sometimes. If you're driving its your call

I ran it down to 0 and then went another 40 miles (we tested how far we could do and carried a can around so we knew!) so I never ever ever panic any more. 0 doesn't even mean 0, let alone 40! I run down to zero every single week.

My DH runs it down to pretty close to zero, I do worry when he's saying it's OK and he'll go and get fuel the next day bloody miles away. He is usually wanting to do 'x' home to office trips on a tank full and if he fills up too soon he will be short, Aaargh. Would be too much stress for me, and what if he gets caught in traffic?

I ran mine down to almost zero (pulled over when engine starting spluttering) and had to call out the AA for a refill. It annoys me when DP leaves the car with very little fuel because while it probably is only just over a mile to the nearest petrol station it is a mile in the wrong direction and I often don't have time to do that between school drop off and getting to work on time. If it was 40 miles left though I would just drive to work and sort it on the way home

I've been driving a fair while (36 years) and have always waited for the petrol light to come on before I even think about filling up. I have never run out.
The only time I deviated from this was the 2000 petrol crisis.

So if you run out of petrol you phone the AA of whoever you have roadside cover with and they come out and give you enough to get yo the nearest petrol station not ideal but hardly life threatening

I used to drive 'on vapours' all the time in my younger days!

The less fuel you have in the tank the lighter the vehicle, so you get better fuel economy. You don't want to be spending money on fuel to carry a full tank of fuel around. That would be silly.

I do get a bit stressed when I am at 10 or below!

I get nervous when ours gets to 7%... but thats partly because the petrol station is 5 miles away and I sometimes need to more local trips (like the post office is 2 miles in the opposite direction).

But 40 miles, 1 mile from petrol station? No problem

DH had the indignity of running out half a mile from the petrol station, but it was a work car and they have to return it with a full tank so were trying to avoid an extra stop.

Our other dark is an 56 plate. It just has 4 lights. So low fuel is 25%... no idea if that means its got 80 miles or 8 miles. Its a bit nerve-wracking

Sorry he is such a prick OP.

You do know you can post to your heart's content if you want to get things off your chest. There isn't a law that says after a certain number of LTBs you are legally obliged to obey.

It's fucking hard to leave. But do post if you need to.

ps. Regularly drive on fumes - I know you know, but he is being a bullying twat.

I am one of those that gets anxious if I get to quarter tank left 😬 but I would never expect other people to live life around my anxieties. Sorry your dp is such a pratt OP

Pah! I once drove for about 20 miles in an old banger whose petrol light had come on. I was a bit panicky, as it was January, dark and freezing, as well as being a Sunday night. I drove a looong way looking for somewhere to fill up. That was decades ago though.

I consider myself organised if I fill up at 10 miles left 😂 I usually leave it till 5, sometimes 0!

Well, you may get to Net Zero quicker than me. Half a tank left.

Good God a lot of you are very cavalier !

It drags the sediment through your engine .
And just how reliable are your gauges?
We all accept that speedometers can be 10%+/-
What if your petrol gauge is the same .
I'm no mechanic but a quick search on Google tells me this isn't good for your engine .

I tend to worry instead that our fearmongering politicians or oil tycoons will say something stupid and cause a public panic, with people rushing out to refuel, or double the price of fuel on a whim. I haven’t forgotten that moment in early 2022 when BP or somebody did this: one morning I was up at 5am to refill both cars. Ever since, I’ve made sure our cars never get below a quarter. Heck, I even remember the “fuel crisis” of 2000, when Phoebe Plummer (just stop oil soup thrower) hadn’t even been born. Some politician or other said “please don’t panic buy”, and everybody did. Back then, more people knew politicians were liars.

And yes, allowing the fuel to get too low can cause sediment in the system.

I tend to fill up at 50 miles left to go, for some reason mine is really unreliable below 50 and drops about 3 miles for each mile driven.

In terms of your relationship is it worth suggesting couples counselling to your husband? Point scoring and treating each other with disdain isn't a great long term strategy.