Petrol gauge

[Tico]

Advice on petrol 

Hi,  My Hybrid has a petrol gauge with a tick  on the indicator about 3/5 the way down.  I use this to indicate that I should think about filling up asap.

But am I correct?  Or is the tick for something else.  Advice please.

Edited 8 March, 2023 by john999boy
Title change

[Kenny R]

Are you sure it’s not the garage fuel dispenser and the arrow showing what side the fuel filler is on icon.

Edited 7 March, 2023 by Kenny R

[SteveTheElder]

I'm curious! Could you attach a photo so we can better advise.

 

Whilst my car isn't a hybrid so different considerations may apply, but I leave mine until only the final bar is lit up - and it turns red at this point (along with a beep and an orange fuel pump lit up, and the satinet asking if I want to navigate to a petrol station). In fact, I gave up counting the number of ways the car tells me to fill up - one of the funniest things about the car to honest, especially as I have been driving for 47 years and only once ran out of fuel in my first car (with a faulty gauge).

[Tico]

Thanks for replying.  As you can see from the attached photo, the petrol has gone below the tick sign and i will, as usual, fill up today.  But how far could I let the petrol fall?  e.g in an emergency situation, if I couldn't get to a garage. Any advice gratefully received.

[TheUltraRunner]

The tick sign is actually an arrow which indicates on which side of the car you have the filling opening.

When petrol falls to the last line, it changes to red and you get a warning for low fuel. At that point you still have a minimum of 5 liters of patrol in your tank. This is usually enough for 50 to 100 km depending on your consumption.

If you are worried about the range that you can drive with he current amount of fuel in your tank, you can change your display info in one of your round dials. So instead of displaying the current clock (it looks like the clock in your last image), you can display "Range left"

Like here in my picture.

[Kenny R]

As above it is not a tick sign, it is an icon of a garage fuel pump and an arrow informing you what side the filler flap is on.

When the fuel level gets low you should get a warning of how many  predicted miles  till you run out of fuel, and instructions to where nearest fuel station is.

[SkOmk4]

30 minutes ago, Tico said:

the petrol has gone below the tick sign

 

I don't think that what you are calling "tick sign" is positioned there for warning purposes - it is simply there to let you know what that set of horizontal lines are showing... In this case the fuel level. That fuel-pump pictogram could have been placed very well in a different position, above or below the lines. When your fuel level reaches that pictogram position it doesn't mean you need to go to refuel ASAP. Youur picture shows that you still have fuel for about 3 lines out of 8, which roughly means about 1/3 of your fuel tank, which for a tank of 50 liters means that you still have about 16 liters left. 

 

37 minutes ago, Tico said:

But how far could I let the petrol fall?

You can easily let the petrol fall down to the last line marked with "R" - which is short for "reserve" if I'm not mistaking... At that point, that last line will turn from white to red as @SteveTheElder mentioned above. When you reach that point you still have about 100 km worth of fuel left in your car. Unless you live in the middle of nowhere, you would have enough range to arrive at a gas-station.

[J.R.]

3 hours ago, Kenny R said:

When the fuel level gets low you should get a warning of how many  predicted miles  till you run out of fuel, and instructions to where nearest fuel station is.

Except, unlesss VAG/SKODA have changed how their fuel guages have operated for the last 23+ years it will be telling you complete lies starting with moderate porkies at about 3/8 of a tank down to full on Bravo Sugar when the guage reads empty and the display shows zero miles remaining, in truth you will have 5-7 litres of reserve fuel available.

 

Every vehicle I have tested it has been 7 litres, I keep reading 5 litres being quoted but I do not believe that is true, its probably the point at which people wimp out! - I don't blame them!

[Tico]

For  all  the replies I am very grateful.  Now, I fully understand the whole situation regarding the amount of fuel left, so thank you.  By the way, I did fill up today and, to my delight, I found that the price of fuel has dropped to £1.38 in my area.  In future - and following all your advice, I think I'll let the run down to the last line.

Thanks to all

 

Tico