You Can Drive Further Than You Think on an Empty Tank
If you have a certain type of vehicle, you can drive from Tyler to Nacogdoches with the gas gauge on empty. It turns out there's more gas in the tank than you think.
Maybe there's no such thing as driving on fumes. When the low fuel light comes on you know you're pushing it, but you might have longer than you think before you're completely out of gas. Looking at a lot of most popular vehicles, we learn that several of them have 50, 60, or 70 miles left in the tank before the car will sputter and quit. Some vehicles will tell you the "distance to empty" number, but if they don't, you can stiil rest assured you've got a good cushion.
The Nissan Versa and Nissan Altima still have between 80 and 114 miles left in the tank when that fuel warning light goes on. A Toyota Tundra could get you an extra 70 miles, and you've got anywhere from 35 to 80 miles left once the warning light comes on in a Ford Explorer. There's anywhere from 1 to 3 gallons left in the tank.
There are 76 miles between Tyler and Nacogdoches. It's 80 miles from Lufkin to Longview. It might be a little risky, but The Mechanic says there's a good chance you'll make it without having to call your lovely wife for help.
If you're a risk taker, this is good news. You can hop in the car and ride like the wind, and your car probably won't let you down. For 70 miles anyway. And for those of us that always fill up before it hits a quarter of a tank, well...we could probably walk on the wild side and wait for an eighth. There's more padding than we thought.